Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin refused to take a specific position on keeping 12.5 percent corporate tax rates. There is increasing pressure on the authorities in Dublin to join the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) plan for a minimum global corporate tax rate of at least 15 percent.

Ireland is one of nine countries withholding from signing the agreement, which was concluded in July this year. The low corporate tax rate has long been a major component of the country's tax policy and has been instrumental in making Ireland an attractive location for the European headquarters of many multinational companies.

Already in July, Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe said that considered by some to be the EU's "tax haven" – due to the favorable fiscal system for large corporations – Ireland would not support global tax reform plans.

The signatories of the agreement of July 1 include the 10 largest world economies: the USA, China, and Germany. In total, 130 countries, including Poland, supported the agreement. Nine countries oppose him. These are mainly countries with less economic and political influence, such as Barbados, St. Vincent, Kenya, Nigeria, and Estonia, but at the same time those that have a fiscal policy friendly to international corporations – such as Ireland, where, for example, American digital giants have their European headquarters.

(EURACTIV.pl)