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John Christensen ■ Quote of the day: the Irish template for corporate bullying

Quote of the day: the Irish template for corporate bullying

John Christensen

Published:

13 March 2015

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Race to the bottom ↘

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click on the chart to enlarge

Yesterday, we re-posted a blog about the Irish Celtic Tiger myth from the Fool’s Gold site to the Naked Capitalism blog. The blog seeks to debunk the myth that tax “competition” was crucial to Ireland’s development in the 1980s and 1990s. As the chart here shows, other factors were at play. As always, Naked Capitalism attracts excellent comments under its postings, and we particularly like this comment from ‘Irishman’ about the drivers of the myth of tax ‘competition’:

” . . like everywhere else the lower corporate tax rates were the result of spooked/bribed politicians. Just a bonus to the corporates . . . If anything, Ireland provided a template to the corporates that they could bully and bribe legislation to their advantage.”

Bang on. Just a bonus to the corporates. And another sign of how craven the current generation of politicians (not just in Ireland but across Europe, and beyond) have become in the face of blow hard company directors and their shills.

Another comment that caught our interest was from PlutoniumKun, who added some further insights and a couple of useful caveats. Read it all here.

The author

John Christensen

Trained as a forensic auditor and economist, John has worked in many countries around the world, including a period of working in offshore financial services with Touche Ross & Co. For 11 years he was economic adviser to the government of the British Channel Island of Jersey. In 2003 he became what the Guardian has described as “the unlikely figurehead of a worldwide campaign against tax avoidance.” His research on offshore finance has been widely published in books and academic journals, and John has taken part in many films, television documentaries and radio programmes. John can be contacted on +44 (0) 7979 868302.

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