To whom it may concern,
Two things caught my eye this
week.
One was the EU ruling that Apple was negligent in fulfilling it's tax obligations, and deemed it liable to pay the Irish Government €13Billion in back taxes. it accrued on products it sold; The other was the story of a elderly man in his 80's who needed a CT scan in hospital due to an injury, but was forced to spend hours sitting in a chair, due to a lack of beds.
One paid less than 1% tax on billions and billions of profits, the other paid more than 50% tax on his wages for most of his working life.
Yet the Government stresses everything must be done to defend the Multinational conglomerate, whilst the old man, like many others, are an afterthought (if a thought at all).
Some commentators have told us "Sure we wouldn't get €13BN, most of it would go to the US, France etc. . Also we'll frighten all these foreign companies away and thousands would lose their jobs if we accepted the EU ruling.
But even €4BN is a massive sum that would help this country enormously. We could refurbish many decrepit schools, make our colleges state of the art and build many badly needed social houses for a small chunk of the money.
But there is something else we could do with the money too, which would have massive benefits to this country.
There are many people who were forced to leave this country to find work, and over the years have become leading players in industry, playing key senior roles in some of the world's biggest companies. Our graduates are also highly prized the world over due to the renowned education system we have. Now imagine the Government brought these people home and got them to oversee the development of new state run companies that, with many Irish people taken off the dole to work with them, and produce products BETTER than the ones their current companies are producing. Imagine the many jobs this would create, and the massive tax revenues that would accrue, to enable to further develop our social infrastructure, improve our colleges and hospitals etc.
Gas isn't it, the government has thundered that we had no choice but to accept Water charges, property taxes, and the bank bailouts that bankrupted this country, because it's EU law, and you can't dismiss an EU directive. But yet when it comes to the €13BN that would massively improve this country for the better, challenging the EU's the decision (and handing the €13BN back to Apple) is suddenly allowable!
One was the EU ruling that Apple was negligent in fulfilling it's tax obligations, and deemed it liable to pay the Irish Government €13Billion in back taxes. it accrued on products it sold; The other was the story of a elderly man in his 80's who needed a CT scan in hospital due to an injury, but was forced to spend hours sitting in a chair, due to a lack of beds.
One paid less than 1% tax on billions and billions of profits, the other paid more than 50% tax on his wages for most of his working life.
Yet the Government stresses everything must be done to defend the Multinational conglomerate, whilst the old man, like many others, are an afterthought (if a thought at all).
Some commentators have told us "Sure we wouldn't get €13BN, most of it would go to the US, France etc. . Also we'll frighten all these foreign companies away and thousands would lose their jobs if we accepted the EU ruling.
But even €4BN is a massive sum that would help this country enormously. We could refurbish many decrepit schools, make our colleges state of the art and build many badly needed social houses for a small chunk of the money.
But there is something else we could do with the money too, which would have massive benefits to this country.
There are many people who were forced to leave this country to find work, and over the years have become leading players in industry, playing key senior roles in some of the world's biggest companies. Our graduates are also highly prized the world over due to the renowned education system we have. Now imagine the Government brought these people home and got them to oversee the development of new state run companies that, with many Irish people taken off the dole to work with them, and produce products BETTER than the ones their current companies are producing. Imagine the many jobs this would create, and the massive tax revenues that would accrue, to enable to further develop our social infrastructure, improve our colleges and hospitals etc.
Gas isn't it, the government has thundered that we had no choice but to accept Water charges, property taxes, and the bank bailouts that bankrupted this country, because it's EU law, and you can't dismiss an EU directive. But yet when it comes to the €13BN that would massively improve this country for the better, challenging the EU's the decision (and handing the €13BN back to Apple) is suddenly allowable!
Seán Heffernan,
Dominic's Parish,
Tallaght,
Dominic's Parish,
Tallaght,
