Ireland’s low-tax miracle is over

Okay, in fairness it might be the weather. Or the craic in the bars. Or the rugged coastline, golf courses, or the lakes. And yet for all its charms, there was always a far simpler reason why more than a thousand multinational companies have their main European headquarters in Ireland. Tax. For a generation, Ireland has had the lowest corporate tax rate – just 12.5 per cent – in the developed world. Even better, myriad breaks and allowances – in accounting circles the ‘Double Irish’ is not as you might imagine an especially stiff glass of Jameson’s but a fiendishly clever way of re-routing revenues – often take that down even further. The result? Companies from Apple to Google to Pfizer have huge operations in Ireland, creating tens of thousands of jobs, and an economy that is among the most prosperous in the world.