DUBLIN: TJN, a group dedicated to highlighting the harmful impact of tax evasion, tax avoidance and offshore tax havens, has never been much of a fan of Ireland’s more creative tax policies, so it is a minor surprise that the State has only managed 26th place in the latest edition of the biennial index.
It has, admittedly, been steadily climbing it, gaining 11 places on its 2015 ranking and rising from 47th place in 2013. Ireland, for the record, is sandwiched between France (25th) and Kenya (27th) and comes in well below Switzerland (first place, naturally) and European Union friends Luxembourg (sixth), Germany (seventh), the Netherlands (14th), the UK (23rd) and Cyprus (24th). There is no “magic bullet” that will untangle the international web of financial secrecy, TJN says. As the revelations in offshore leaks, such as the 2016 Panama Papers and last year’s Paradise Papers, have shown, offshore tax avoidance is systemic in nature. One eye-catching recommendation TJN does make is for the scandal-tarnished Big Four accountancy firms PwC, KPMG, Deloitte and EY – to be broken up.
The audit function of these firms would be “a good place to start”, TJN says, going on to argue that, just like the banks during the financial crisis, the Big Four have become too big to regulate.
