Google Warns Irish Government Against Tax Increase

theodp writes "The Irish government has been given a stark warning from some of the biggest American companies in Ireland on the risk of a mass exodus if the country's controversial low corporate tax rate is raised in return for an IMF/EU bailout to shore up the country's beleaguered banking system. According to The Telegraph, a statement signed by senior execs at Microsoft, HP, Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, and Intel points out that although Ireland's tax rate may be low in European terms, it is not when compared with locations such as Singapore, India and China. Separately, the head of Google's 2,000-strong European HQ in Dublin told the Belfast Telegraph, 'anything that impinges on Ireland's competitiveness is going to be a big thing for Google,' adding, 'anything that increases the cost-base of a business is negative for competitiveness.'"

Comments

Re:Perhaps Google and company can bail out Ireland

[guyminuslife]

Doubtful.

But this reminds me of an anecdote I once heard where the Colombian drug lords offered to pay off the national debt if the Colombian government legalized drugs.

Re:Of course...

[sjames]

It's just like the .com boom. Governments can lose a bit of money on every transaction and make it up in volume!