Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure should be Brought Before the Finance Committee Immediately to Explain Costly €13billion Apple Tax Fiasco
Aontú leader, Meath West TD and Finance Committee member Peadar Tóibín has written to the Chair of the Finance Committee John McGuiness requesting that the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Public Expenditure be brought before the Finance Committee immediately to explain their costly strategy to fight the legal acceptance of the €13 billion in Apple Tax. An Teachta Tóibín stated:
“Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Greens fought the EU to prevent Irish citizens from legally receiving €13billion in tax. This is an astounding fact and begs the question, who is the Irish government working for. In whose interests is the Irish government operating. In this case its clear, the Irish government were not working in the interests of the Irish people. The opportunity cost of this forgone €13billion is astounding. It’s a equivalent of building 32,500 houses at today’s crazy prices. Its the equivalent of a half a dozen hospitals even at the grossly inflated government rate”.
“This unpaid tax was a result of a sweetheart deal between Irish governments and Apple. It meant that at a time when Irish workers were being crucified by income tax, some foreign direct investors used Ireland as a tax haven. Apple was charged a tax rate as low as 0.005%. Incredibly the Irish government spent over €8million fight against the receipt of €13billion”.
“In a government that is world class in terms of waste of tax payer’s money, this must be the pinnacle of squander and misuse. Remember the during this period Ireland was desperate finance straits from the fall out of the bank bailout and later the €30billion Covid deficit. I am calling for the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Public expenditure to be brought immediately before the Finance Committee to explain their shocking actions”.
ENDS
