Posted on 03/29/2006 7:30:44 PM PST by Murtyo
LINK ONLY, Irish Independent doesn't allow excerpts, NEED TO REGISTER (FREE) AT www.UNISON.ie to read
Ireland's modern, highly industrialized economy grew by 80 percent during the 1990s. The country has one of the world's most pro-business environments, especially for foreign businesses and investments...
...In January 2003, the Ahern government lowered the corporate tax rate to 12.5 percent—far below the European Union's average of 30 percent—from 16 percent. Ireland has become a major center for U.S. investment in Europe. Although accounting for only 1 percent of the euro zone market, it receives nearly one-third of U.S. investment in the EU. Due largely to close trading ties with the U.S., Ireland is the world's largest exporter per capita...
...Ireland's top income tax rate is 42 percent. The top corporate tax rate is 12.5 percent.
...Ireland welcomes foreign investment, and barriers are minimal. The government does not distinguish between domestic and foreign investment...
...Ireland, with one percent of the EU's population, attracted twenty-five percent of all new U.S. investment in the EU over the last decade. In 2003, U.S. investment flow into Ireland was roughly USD 9.1 billion, two-and-a-half times the amount of U.S. investment flow into China.
Exports of goods and services: $134.8 billion
Imports of goods and services: $108.1 billion
ping
Ireland would be a lovely place to live. The USA is becoming less so every day.
France, Germany, and other EU countries want to punish Ireland for low tax rates.
I'm not kidding.
Thanks for the ping Sion!
From the first time I was in Blanchardstown in the late 80's to now, the difference is stark!! A new, American style shopping mall. A huge aquatic center with 2 Olympic size pools under one roof (Back in the 80's Ireland's Olympic swimmers needed to train in the UK!). Rows and rows of new homes (though compared to US suburban standards of living, homes in Ireland are cramped and unattractive).
City Centre in Dublin looked like Beirut with the roofs removed from buildings so the owners would have to pay taxes. Now, there's fancy nightclubs on O'Connell with activity at night (and not just car theives from Ballymun).
I just wish the Irish understood that it was US/UK policies that made the difference; not the lousy EU.
I am tired of trying to explain that to people - I think it's a cultural inferiority complex that says Ireland couldn't have done anything without structural funds from the EU - BS!! Deregulation and lower taxation did it, and the hard work of the Irish workforce!! I thank the multinational companies for their contribution to Ireland's economic miracle - but they wouldn't have come if it weren't for the innovation and perseverence of my fellow countrymen!!
I was only a young boy in the '80, i.e. I would have been somewhat sheltered from the realities of the dire situation here, but I still have noted huge differences in my parent's way of life now and then - the difference is phenomenal!!
Exactly.
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