Taoiseach Enda Kenny has said further steps will be taken to encourage more start-ups and micro businesses to locate to Ireland and to make the country more attractive to entrepreneurs and the self-employed.
Speaking at the Irish Management Institute's (IMI) National Management Conference in Sandyford on Thursday, attended by more than 250 executives, Mr Kenny said it essential the country remains "very much open for business".
Addressing next month’s budget, he said there would be measures included to defend Ireland’s best interests in the face of Brexit.
Other moves would be made to increase the Earned Income Tax Credit to match the PAYE credit as outlined in the Programme for Government.
“Thanks to a recovering economy the Government was in a position to lower the tax burden on workers in the two previous Budgets to bring the marginal tax rate to below 50 per cent this year, the first time since the crisis escalated in 2009,” he said.
“The Government will take another step to lower that tax burden by cutting the Universal Social Charge further. This is in line with our Programme for Government commitment to continue to phase out the USC entirely.”
Ireland’s deficit is now set to fall under 1 per cent in 2016 and the Government plans to eliminate it by 2018.
Mr Kenny said it was necessary to “strongly defend” the 12.5 per cent corporation tax rate, a “cornerstone of Irish industrial policy [THAT]will not change”.
“Having said that we are fully committed to tax justice and we will continue to be at the forefront in the OECD Base Erosion and Profit Shifting process,” he said.
Disruptive environments
Thursday’s conference was to discuss the theme of how disruptive business environments are the “new normal” with change taking place across all industries.
"Disruptive business environments have become the new normal," said IMI chief executive Dr Simon Boucher.
The event was due to hear the latest insights from local and global thinkers and leaders who have driven business success in disruptive environments.
Among the speakers at this year's event are Connacht rugby head coach Pat Lam, who will use the team's Pro12 victory this year to discuss the highs and lows of transformation through culture; former ESRI director Frances Ruane; professor of management and faculty director of the Tuck executive programme at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College Sydney Finklestein; Adrian Furnham, professor of psychology at University College London and research specialist in global strategy and marketing; and professor of management and co-director of the Centre on China Innovation, at China Europe International Business School, George Yip.
