{"id":10560,"date":"2011-06-17T11:50:00","date_gmt":"2011-06-17T10:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/?p=10560"},"modified":"2011-06-17T11:50:00","modified_gmt":"2011-06-17T10:50:00","slug":"northern-irelands-corporation-tax-cut-what-is-it-for-unless-to-gamble-public-money-with-the-winnings-going-to-the-rich","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/2011\/06\/17\/northern-irelands-corporation-tax-cut-what-is-it-for-unless-to-gamble-public-money-with-the-winnings-going-to-the-rich\/","title":{"rendered":"Northern Ireland’s corporation tax cut: what is it for unless to gamble public money with the winnings going to the rich?"},"content":{"rendered":"

From the Belfast Telegraph this morning<\/a>:<\/p>\n

The debate on whether Northern Ireland would benefit from a reduction in the rate of corporation tax has been one-sided.<\/p>\n

The virtual monopoly in the media for the proponents of a reduction in corporation tax raises questions about the objectivity and neutrality of the media in Northern Ireland and whether the public are well-served by what can only be described as a partisan approach in favour of the influential pro-business lobby.<\/p>\n

The case against a reduction in corporation tax is well-articulated, but effectively sidelined.<\/p>\n

The main critical analysis of the issue is contained in the publication Pot of Gold or Fools Gold, Richard Murphy's report for the Irish Congress of Trade Unions.<\/p>\n

More recently, the Wilberforce Society - a body with no particular axe to grind - has published a report concurring with Murphy.<\/p>\n

There has been no intellectual challenge from the pro-business lobby to these critical voices - except that the case for a reduction in this tax is now being nuanced to suggest that, while it may not now be characterised as a silver bullet for our economic ills, it is very much a necessary central plank in the 'strategy' to invigorate our local economy.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I think the point in the\u00a0last\u00a0paragraph is key: there has been no\u00a0intellectual\u00a0response to the challenge I and the Wilberforce Society have raised to this absurd proposal. Mantra seems to be enough.<\/p>\n

My fear is that the same will happen in Scotland.<\/p>\n

And as Brian Campfield who wrote the article noted:<\/p>\n

The former chairperson of the CBI in Northern Ireland, when questioned by Lady Sylvia Hermon at the Northern Ireland affairs committee, admitted there were no guarantees a reduction in corporation tax would create jobs. We are playing roulette with public funds and hoping for a win.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But the hope is against hopeless odds.<\/p>\n

So why are we doing this if it is not to provide further subsidy for business owners at cost to everyone else?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From the Belfast Telegraph this morning: The debate on whether Northern Ireland would benefit from a reduction in the rate of corporation tax has been
 Read the full article…<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10560","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-corporation-tax","category-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10560","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10560"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10560\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}