The exchequer reliance on corporate tax
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What are the recent tax revelations from US companies to the Irish Exchequer?
For the first time, US companies have revealed the billions in tax that they pay to the Irish Exchequer. The figures show just how much the government relies on the income from the tech and pharma industries based here. Let's get the detail around all of this. I'm joined by Chief Economist with the Bank of Ireland, Conal McQuilla. Good morning to you. morning when we hear these numbers and the breakdown you know over a billion from one company half a billion from another you just feel a chill wind don't you on the back of your neck because you realize in stark terms how reliant we are on these companies well it is as you said um we're now beginning to see the kind of company by company breakdown and these are figures which are going to be resonating the united states as well but i mean this is
not new news in some respect. I mean, the central bank, the SRI, and, you know, a range of institutions have been warning that corporation taxes in Ireland make a very high share of our overall tax take, as well as that's a very high concentration amongst just a number of companies. So I think it's pretty well known that, you know, just 10 companies accounted for over half of corporate taxes, and that's been a pretty consistent theme. So if something nasty were to happen to one or two of those companies, or if we're to see a change in corporate tax laws in the United States or others that were to dilute those corporate taxes, yes, the public finances should be, or could be exposed. And, you know, you could see a deficit open up quite quickly.
Now that hasn't happened. I think something we should be aware of, but it's kind of been, I suppose, ideally we'll be running larger budget surpluses and understanding that these corporate taxes are potentially volatile. And the political scrutiny of these taxes is probably going to increase as we get more of this detail on the individual payments from individual companies.
How does the Irish government rely on corporate taxes from tech and pharma industries?
And of course, some of the big names like Apple and Microsoft will still have to do this later this year. Yes, there's going to be more and more scrutiny on this, particularly in the United States, you would suspect.
Yeah, and just to run through the figures in broad terms. So these public filings to the US authorities, they show that Pfizer paid $1.02 billion in corporation tax in Ireland in 2025. Meta, $567 million. Johnson & Johnson, $600 million. AbbVie, $431 million. And so on it goes. Do you expect that because now these public filings are out there, Conall, that this will become a topic perhaps over the weekend or in the coming days into next week in the United States? And do we need to worry?
I think we look at the United States as policy under the Trump administration. It's unclear at best or ambiguous as to what they're exactly trying to achieve. I mean, we have tariffs, which on one hand, they're saying tariffs are kind of there to even up the playing pitch as they see it in terms of trade. But at the same time, the US corporate tax regime still incentivizes US companies to locate production abroad.
What concerns arise from the concentration of corporate tax payments in Ireland?
So for all of the noise that you've heard from the Trump administration, the taxes that they impose on US companies that have their headquarters in the United States, the taxes they impose on their global income as opposed to the income they earn in the United States are far lower. They're kind of around 12, 13%. There are certainly figures in the United States saying that those rates should be increased. Maybe some of the tax incentives that US companies can avail of to reduce their US corporate tax bill should be changed. But we haven't seen that. And you would have thought the kind of broad trust of the Trump administration is to reduce corporate taxes. There seems to be very limited appetite to increase them.
So in many respects, this is really about a debate the United States has to have with itself about how it wants to tax US companies. And so far, there's very few voices sort of saying, you know, those things should be, or you should tax US companies more aggressively.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What are the recent tax revelations from US companies to the Irish Exchequer?
0:01–1:55
2
How does the Irish government rely on corporate taxes from tech and pharma industries?
1:55–3:05
3
What concerns arise from the concentration of corporate tax payments in Ireland?
3:05–5:04
4
How could changes in US corporate tax laws impact Ireland's public finances?
5:04–7:45