And finally in 2021, as the administration of Joe Biden and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development jointly pushed to force low-tax jurisdictions such as Ireland to raise their rates closer to international norms in the mid-20s, the Irish held out until they won a commitment to cap that increase at 15 percent.
That change went live in Ireland on Jan. 1, increasing the amounts that more than 1,800 multinationals, mostly American, pay here. There’s been no reported exodus in response, as IDA Ireland, the state agency tasked with wooing foreign firms and keeping them here, instead continues to announce win after win.
Apple today is reckoned to be, by far, Ireland’s biggest taxpayer in a top tier that includes the European HQs of Microsoft, Google, Meta and X in Dublin, Medtronic in the western city of Galway, a hub for U.S. medical device firms, and Pfizer, Eli Lilly, Merck and most other top American drugmakers clustered in the southwest city of Cork, which is also home to Apple and its 6,000-strong Irish workforce.
The Department of Finance and external economists have long warned of the risks posed by Ireland’s dependence on a handful of top U.S. employers, who could park their IP elsewhere if American tax rules change again to Ireland’s disadvantage. But they’ve stopped issuing forecasts that the corporate tax haul is doomed to fall — since it keeps hitting record highs.
An unexpectedly large August payment from Apple has helped deliver a corporation tax treasure chest forecast to approach, if not top, €30 billion this year. That would be far ahead of 2023’s record €23.6 billion and seven times higher than a decade ago — and it wouldn’t even include the EU order on collecting Apple’s back taxes.
Gimme, gimme, gimme
So what could Ireland’s problem possibly be?