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by EamonLeonard 4519 days ago
No doubt, they've done so in order to take advantage of Ireland's lax tax laws and asleep-at-the-wheel regulators.

It's a disgrace.

Down with this sort of thing. Careful now.

4 comments

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.
I think this post, and indeed the OP, has flown over some of our American friends heads ;)
To be fair the ability to spot a Father Ted quote at 80 paces is a pretty British trait :-)
That's absolutely why they've done it but why is it a disgrace? Why not consider this as a free market?

If the government is robbing you with extremely high taxes why not just take your business somewhere else? It only makes sense.

Free market will improve the quality at the end. Other governments should reconsider their stupid tax schemes.

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:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKfxVlyh98Y