US president Donald Trump has renewed his pledge to clamp down on countries that are unfairly competing with America on tax, a day after he claimed that Ireland was reducing its corporate tax rate to 8 per cent.
Speaking alongside Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras at the White House, Mr Trump said the United States would no longer be "taken advantage of" by other countries.
“Our jobs [are] moving out to certain countries . . . the product is made elsewhere and then is sold back into the United States. I’m not going to be allowing that,” he said.
Tax reform meeting
Following a meeting on tax reform on Monday, Mr Trump said he had heard that Ireland “is going to be reducing their corporate rates down to 8 per cent from 12”.
Speaking from New York on Tuesday, where he is meeting potential US investors, Michael D’Arcy, Minister of State at the Department of Finance, said there were no plans to change the corporate tax rate. “The 12.5 per cent tax rate is, and will remain, a core part of our offering,” he said.
Mr Trump's comments echoed a similar claim made by Republican senator Rand Paul – a key figure in the Republican plan to reform the tax code – after playing golf with the president on Sunday.
"Everybody's lowering their corporate tax. Some are worried, 'Oh, if we do a 20 per cent corporate tax – my goodness, Ireland is at 12 [per cent] thinking about going to 8. You've got Canada at 15. We really need to do it,'" Mr Paul said.
The comments are the latest reference by the US administration to Ireland’s tax regime as it seeks to attract US investment back to American shores.
