With Irish Tax, Plastic Bags Go the Way of the Snakes
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The Irish have embraced the use of cloth bags to carry their groceries, encouraged by a 33-cent tax on each plastic bag grabbed at the register.
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The IRS is cracking down on a Hollywood tradition: outrageously expensive gift bags
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Rises in environmental taxes fail to impress green campaigners, opposition parties and businesses.
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(InfoWorld) - A recent financial filing from Sandisk in Ireland illustrates the sometimes controversial nature of the corporate tax regime in the country. While Sandisk has joined scores of other companies attracted to Ireland for its low corporate tax rate, the company appears to represent an extreme example of benefiting from the tax environment. In a financial statement filed in Ireland earlier this month, Sandisk Manufacturing, the Irish subsidiary of Sandisk Corp., reported four employees and revenue of $955 million between the period when the company first opened up in Ireland, April 2005, and the end of 2005. Sandisk Corp. had 1,083 employees at the end of 2005 and reported revenue for the year of $2.3 billion. Other U.S. technology companies with offices in Ireland, such as Google and Microsoft, have also had their Irish financial reports scrutinized for generating revenues that appear out of proportion to the number of employees in the country. Google and Microsoft each employ hundreds of workers in the country. "The fact that [Sandisk has] only four people and a billion dollars makes them stick out a bit more," said John Gilsenan, an independent analyst who sometimes consults for IDC Ireland. In the Sandisk example, just four employees in Ireland out of 1,083 around the world appeared to generate nearly half of the company's revenue. The tax regime benefits the Irish government but could become a sore point for other countries. "I certainly don't think that there's any impetus from the Irish government for this to change," said Gilsenan. While the Irish government is likely pleased to earn the tax from companies like Sandisk, the governments where the companies are based might start looking for ways to ensure they can collect their fair share of taxes from the companies, he said. Ireland's low corporate tax rate dates back to the 1950s and its current 12.5 percent rate was set in the 1990s. The tax rate, far lower than in most other countries, has attracted many companies to open operations in Ireland, spurring the current economic boom in the country. In April last year, Sandisk announced plans to transfer its Europe, Middle East and Africa headquarters to Dublin and employ 50 people by the end of this year. In a statement announcing the move, it said it already had 12 people working in Dublin managing supply chain and sales support functions for Sandisk. A Sandisk spokesperson was not available to comment on its financial statement or Dublin operations.
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'Unfit to spend taxpayers' money' Ireland's Public Accounts Committee's report on the Media Lab Europe collapse proves the country's government is 'unfit' to spend taxpayers' money, an Opposition spokesman claims.â¦
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Plastic Father Christmases may festoon Belfast&#39;s many lampposts, but there was little sign yesterday of the season of goodwill.
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That was the suitably seasonal headline on Wednesday&#39;s Irish Sun. The story below the giant, screaming typeface, and also plastered across other more restrained front pages, was of the robbery
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Bubble-gum blowers beware: Ireland is mulling a tax on chewing gum to fund the cost of cleaning the sticky stuff from its pavements.
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In an effort to stop scams that cause unwitting Internet users to be charged premium rates for calls placed by software surreptitiously installed on their PCs, Ireland is going to block outgoing calls to 13 countries.
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A bank in Northern Ireland hit by a massive robbery this week is considering a drastic method of preventing the criminals enjoying their haul by taking all the types of notes seized out of circulation, it said.
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NEW YORK -- If you can't beat it, tax it. That seems to be the axiom in New York these days, where Gov. Eliot L. Spitzer (D), struggling to close a $4.4 billion budget gap, has proposed making drug dealers pay tax on their stashes of illegal drugs. The new tax would apply to cocaine, heroin and...
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How you pay -- paper vs. plastic -- can put a crimp in your spending power.
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The Swiss tax system is attracting businesses and celebrities, much to the irritation of its EU neighbours.
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Tiffany is taking it on the chin as spiking raw material costs eat into its bottom line.
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The effects of drinking alcohol cost Ireland more than $3bn last year, a new report says.
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A City Council bill would compel supermarkets to collect, transport and recycle plastic bags. Supermarkets would also be required to place "easily accessible" bins for customers to drop off their bags and would also be required to sell reusable bags that customers can use in lieu of plastic and paper bags.
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Supermarkets could face multi-million pound fines.