Madam, - Brian Geoghegan (April 24th) contends that the EU Reform Treaty will bring about common corporate taxes in Europe. As a member of the economics committee of the European Parliament, I can assure readers that tax harmonisation is not on the way.
To argue that our low level of corporation tax distorts competition is a fallacy. EU member-states are free to set their own corporation tax levels. The Cypriot level stands at 10 per cent, even lower than the Irish.
The EU cannot take any decisions on tax rates unless it is with the unanimous agreement of all 27 EU member-states. European Commission president José Barroso was very clear on this issue when he was in Dublin last week.
To suggest that the British government will use this treaty to redress our corporation tax regime also fails to stand scrutiny. The British government is totally opposed to common corporate taxes in Europe on the grounds that tax decisions are sovereign matters for individual EU member-states.
Brian Geoghegan further states that a Yes vote will result in lower levels of inward investment into Ireland. Yet Mr Paul Rellis, who is both the president of Microsoft Ireland and the president of the America Chamber of Commerce in Ireland, has said that a No vote will result in lower levels of investment from the US.
Does anybody really believe that all the main political parties
in Ireland and leading business groups such as Ibec, the Small
Firms Association, the IDA, the Dublin and Cork Chambers of
Commerce and American multinational companies located in Ireland
would call for a Yes vote if this treaty would damage our
corporation tax structures? The reality is that the Lisbon Treaty
has nothing whatever to do with a common EU corporate tax base. -
Yours, etc,
EOIN RYAN MEP,
Euro Constituency of Dublin,
European Parliament,
Molesworth Street,
Dublin 2.