Yes, every company should move to wherever it is they can pay the most taxes. Perhaps instead of criticizing Ireland for low taxes, perhaps the ire should be forces on jurisdictions with confiscatory taxes and burdensome regulation. I moved from New York City because I was not only paying higher prices for everything but things like rent control, exceptionally high state and local taxes, plus the added bonus of paying insanity rates for health insurance, not to mention a public school system that results in your kid having to travel across town even though there's a perfectly good school a block away. I would never again start a company in New York.
Now, I'm not sure if this is the case here but using Irish operations for tax purposes is part of a well-understood loophole. Here's a better explanation around Google's activities:
Nice work guys. This is great news for Ireland's economy which not too long ago was decimated and has recovered exceptionally well. I think other parts of the world with bad economies need to learn from Ireland and attract startup and technology companies with incentives.
The one thing that doesn't sit well with me in this situation is the PR speak from the founder and lead members masking the real reason they've decided to open an office in Ireland: tax incentives and very loose regulations.
> "It just seemed to make sense"
This translates too: we'd pay more tax somewhere else, so it makes sense to open an office in Ireland and tax advantage of the perks.
>"Dublin is great. There’s something really familiar about it that I can’t quite put my finger on."
Dublin is definitely a great place, especially when you're not paying much tax.
I'm not saying this is a bad thing, Ireland have played it smart luring the likes of Apple and Linkedin to their corner of the world repairing their economy quite quickly, but lets cut to the chase: tech startups aren't moving their offices to Ireland because of the weather. Can't we all just be honest with one another?
Actually one of the attractions for Google is the Irish weather (cooler so less costs in keeping data centers cool) anyway, perhaps you should read past the first paragraph..
I'm going to assume this post was dripping with irony, clever sarcasm, and wit that I missed due to not being Irish.
That said, good going Tito. I think. I'm not really sure if the news is good or if there really is any news, but I'm assuming this is both news and good news.
It's a disgrace.
Down with this sort of thing. Careful now.