Being honest about this helps to clarify where Ireland’s real interests lie
Donald Trump shaking hands with Taoiseach Micheál Martin last week. The US president is right about Big Pharma - albeit with two qualifications. Photograph: Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images
To get a grip on this reality, we might conduct a little thought experiment: WWBD? What would Bernie do? Imagine a saner world in whichhad defeated Trump last November and was now trying to take on the social injustices and inequalities that are tearing America apart. What would he do about Big Pharma and Ireland? Pretty much what Trump says he wants to do.of fiddles. For us – and for many rich Americans – it plays a very sweet tune.
The magic ingredient is intellectual property. The pharma giants transfer ownership of their patents to their Irish subsidiaries who then licence the US to produce the drugs – for enormous fees. The Irish arm makes the profits ; the mother company in the US makes concomitant paper losses – and thus avoids all US tax.
Think about this from the point of view of an ordinary working stiff in Ohio. She pays through her taxes to support the research infrastructure that creates the drugs. She then pays extortionate prices for those same drugs. Many of the good jobs manufacturing them are far away in Ireland. And then the pharma companies tell her that they’re losing billions in the US and sadly can’t pay any tax.
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