Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe yesterday refused to throw a lifeline to sinking Irish businesses by temporarily dropping VAT payments until the crisis is over.
This is the same guy who has spent over €7million of our money on legal fees doing everything in his power so he doesn’t have to collect €14billion in back tax from Apple.
Think about that for a moment. Our Finance Minister won’t touch €14billion which the EU ruled belonged to Ireland while at the same time he refuses to give struggling firms a tax break in a national emergency.
The Apple cash which is sitting in a holding account could keep every small and medium-sized company in the country afloat.
This and previous governments had no hesitation pilfering cash from the national pension found to keep the big banks in business.
Indeed the last Fine Gael administration even robbed money from workers’ private pensions.
Not only will he not touch the Apple cash, he has spent €7.1million in a bid to avoid taking the windfall.
It shows the lengths the Government will go to in order to prevent corporate firms paying their fair share.
On Morning Ireland, Mr Donohoe spoke in riddles when asked if he would waive VAT for the duration of the coronavirus crisis.
“I think it’s also important to emphasise the ability that we have to recover”, he said which was stating the bloody obvious, but firms won’t recover if they go out of business.
The Irish Government’s response to the threat to the economy has been pathetic compared to that taken by the French administration which has deferred tax payments and payroll charges as part of a €45billion package.
Separately France’s competition authority imposed a record €1.1billion fine on Apple for what it called anti-competitive practices on Monday.
This shows Apple will try to get away with whatever it can but, unlike us, the French won’t stand for it.
There is a real danger the economy will enter a deep and long-lasting recession as a result of the Covid-19 virus unless action is taken.
It took years of penal austerity to recover from the financial crisis which has left Ireland the most indebted nation in the developed world.
