Hope And Change and Corporate Taxes

Joy runs in the streets. The world rejoices over the results of the U.S. Presidential election. Three cheers. Now, about the corporate tax rates....

Sure it was all blarney, the rhetoric about changes to come. After all, Barack Obama lied through his teeth about NAFTA, with threats to re-negotiate made for public consumption while behind closed doors he assured the trade partners that the words were empty.

Taoiseach Brian Cowen is banking on further obfuscations from the President-elect.

American firms have long been operating little shadow companies out of Ireland, shuttling profits from one side of the Atlantic to the other. The American-based unit makes little or no profit, the Irish subsidiary is phenomenally successful, and the taxes are paid at Ireland's rate of 12.5%. Paid to the Republic of Ireland, that is.

So, have you had a word with himself, goes Enda Kenny of Fine Gael, have you explained to him that Ireland's economy would sink like a stone if American firms couldn't park their profits in the Emerald Isle? Have his distant relations in Moneygall explained their potential plight?

Will you be bringing him a bowl of shamrock in March, inquires Eamon Gilmore of Labour. As you hand him the Waterford crystal, you could tell him straight out that a change in taxation would be a disaster. We're hoping for an invitation, says An Taoiseach.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheal Martin explained to members of the Dail that the U.S. is in need of those same taxes themselves, and their Congress has a strong incentive to institute change. About all that Ireland can do is lobby when the issue comes up, and then hope for the future.

Those vacuous campaign slogans, about hope and change? They hold more meaning than the average voter understood.