The American Chamber of Commerce Ireland have this week welcomed the Government's reaffirmation of its commitment to the 12.5% corporate tax rate
They claim that the corporate tax rate has been one of Ireland's strong calling cards for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) for many years.
The organisation which represents 700 US companies in Ireland who employ 140,000 people stated that the reductions in the USC rates will enhance Ireland's competitiveness in the international battle to retain and attract talent.
Chief Executive of the American Chamber, Mark Redmond commented, "Changes announced to personal tax as part of Budget 2016 improves Ireland's ability to retain and attract those with specialist skills and leadership talent, crucially it also allows companies reward initiative and improved productivity.
"Ireland has been hugely successful in attracting FDI with its high availability of world-class talent , but its competitiveness has been eroded by high levels of personal taxation, and it's good to see what we hope is the start of the reversal of this trend in this year's Budget.
"This will improve the case for investing in Ireland, as FDI companies will be better able to incentivise productivity and reward innovation among their Irish based workforces."
The American Chamber also welcomed the introduction of a new tax credit and changes to the capital gains tax regime for the self-employed.
According to Mark Redmond "this will boost the enterprise, start up and scale-up ecosystem in Ireland, which will play to the increasing trend among MNCs to seek out locations with strong local business ecosystems, and therefore will help Ireland maintain its attractiveness as a global FDI location."
Source: www.businessworld.ie