tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5187043.post4952294035738989621..comments2024-03-29T09:13:55.008+00:00Comments on UK Commentators: "This Irish Miracle"Labanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12031578024191117985noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5187043.post-15443575116567285822010-11-23T01:10:46.311+00:002010-11-23T01:10:46.311+00:00Now the Irish may conclude that it wasn't just...Now the Irish may conclude that it wasn't just their children who were getting screwed.deariemenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5187043.post-68328629183722175652010-11-21T06:44:35.595+00:002010-11-21T06:44:35.595+00:00The success of the Irish low-tax regime only makes...The success of the Irish low-tax regime only makes sense in the context of Ireland being an english speaking country in close proximity to the UK.<br /><br />Most of the big companies setting up shop there were doing most of their business in the UK.<br /><br />If the UK had the same tax structure the Irish advantage would have been wiped out.<br /><br />If Ireland were still an English speaking country - but instead been off the shores of Italy, none of this would have happened.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5187043.post-33338930134696329822010-11-18T13:42:42.364+00:002010-11-18T13:42:42.364+00:00Anon 6.31pm- You are right to draw attention to th...Anon 6.31pm- You are right to draw attention to the fact that tax arbitrage was always an important factor in the development of the 'Celtic Tiger' economy across the water.(Estonia's low tax regime gave a similar, if attenuated, lift to that country's brief reign as the 'Baltic Tiger'). However an anglophone education system that avoided the fads endemic elsewhere in the Anglosphere also helped the Irish, as did an intelligent, quasi-Gaullist, industrial development policy. (The latter led to the creation, virtually from scratch, of a thriving Pharma sector).<br /><br />BTW Laban, a hat tip is due to your referencing of the Kevin Myers article in your previous posting about the Emerald Isle. He is an illuminating and entertaining writer, banished from these shores (in my view unjustly) during Sarah Sands' brief reign as dominatrix at the Sunday Telegraph. Check out his memoir about the Troubles- 'Watching the Door', which is a real humdinger of a book.Marknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5187043.post-44641151326867308272010-11-18T13:17:28.126+00:002010-11-18T13:17:28.126+00:00Peter Risdon: well said! The Irish did many things...Peter Risdon: well said! The Irish did many things right!<br /><br />Unfortunately, they did some things wrong, like joining the Euro - which meant,Laban, that they could not raise interest rates to temper the property boom.<br /><br />Osborne was broadly drawing the right lessons - for the UK, not Ireland. 1. We need to cut taxes on business -- corporation tax (at 1%?), NI reduced, etc. 2. Increase taxes on consumption, as the coalition has done. 3. Cut public expenditure, as the coalition has NOT done - it has merely reduced the rate of increase!<br /><br />Laban: please consider reviewing this:<br /><br />http://www.channel4.com/programmes/britains-trillion-pound-horror-story/4od#3139408<br /><br />paul ilcAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5187043.post-69778892107588304482010-11-17T18:31:35.815+00:002010-11-17T18:31:35.815+00:00Perhaps this is in part responsible for the "...Perhaps <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-10-21/google-2-4-rate-shows-how-60-billion-u-s-revenue-lost-to-tax-loopholes.html" rel="nofollow">this</a> is in part responsible for the "miracle". Funny the EU hasn't put a stop to the "Double Irish" but maybe that's what you get for approving the Lisbon Treaty (eventually).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5187043.post-25053414052211296242010-11-17T13:32:12.452+00:002010-11-17T13:32:12.452+00:00Agreed, Peter. Nowt wrong with that.
Yet Osborne ...Agreed, Peter. Nowt wrong with that.<br /><br />Yet Osborne failed to spot the approaching disaster. Admitttedly he's got plenty of company - including the entire Irish cabinet.<br /><br />But certainly the property bubble was apparent in 2006. He (or his writer) never asked what would happen if prices started to fall.Labanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12031578024191117985noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5187043.post-28510582749760247962010-11-17T07:31:01.175+00:002010-11-17T07:31:01.175+00:00So Ireland's problems stem from low corporatio...So Ireland's problems stem from low corporation tax and the fact that lots of US high tech businesses moved there?<br /><br />I don't think that's a sustainable argument, in which case Osborne wasn't so very wrong. It's <i>other</i> factors that have caused their present situation.Peter Risdonhttp://www.peterrisdon.com/blognoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5187043.post-28820309929244610192010-11-17T03:06:27.122+00:002010-11-17T03:06:27.122+00:00because of EU policies.because of EU policies.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5187043.post-60569462549641658422010-11-17T03:05:45.726+00:002010-11-17T03:05:45.726+00:00While British farmers were struggling a few years ...While British farmers were struggling a few years ago Irish farmers were doing comparatively well.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5187043.post-37299233455555455952010-11-17T03:01:58.516+00:002010-11-17T03:01:58.516+00:00The Irish did well because of the EU, they were gi...The Irish did well because of the EU, they were given vast sums of money much of it paid for by the British tax payer.<br /><br />They out-competed us because we subsidised them.<br /><br />Then idiot bankers from RBS got in on the act and 'invested' huge sums of money that the British tax payer is now liable for.<br /><br />The same is true of other EU countries also.<br />Mostly only Britain and Germany that are signficient net contributors, plus a few other smaller countries, and Germany has used the situation to boost its manufactoring base by 'bribing' other EU countries to buy their products.<br />Britain has been the loser.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5187043.post-44079549165302646242010-11-16T21:34:06.173+00:002010-11-16T21:34:06.173+00:00Ironically, there is an Irish term for the people ...Ironically, there is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gombeen_man" rel="nofollow">an Irish term</a> for the people who caused the problem.Brianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06358349301959327747noreply@blogger.com