Parliamentary Budget Office report highlights massive concentration risk at the heart of State’s corporate tax base
It is “probable” that two or more firms are individually paying more than 10 per cent of Ireland’s annual corporation tax haul, posing a major risk to the public finances, a new report has warned.
A key concern relates to the over-reliance on a small number of firms with 10 big enterprises, known to include tech giants Apple, Google and Microsoft, accounting for almost 60 per cent of receipts. This concentration risk was noted as being “significantly” higher than in other countries.The PBO report also said it was probable that two or more companies have surpassed a 10 per cent threshold in their contribution to CT revenue.
The report noted that the rapid growth in receipts has coincided with the onshoring of IP here and a surge computer services and pharmaceutical exports. The State’s computer services exports, for instance, grew from €32 billion in 2015 to €196 billion in 2022 which, the report said, “may be related to the IP assets brought into Ireland in recent years”.