Just 36% of people trust multinationals’ tax information – survey

A new survey shows that only 36% of Irish people trust multinational companies to provide accurate tax information.

The new RED C survey, commissioned by the charity Christian Aid, also showed that 70% of people believe multinational tax avoidance schemes to be morally wrong even if they are legal.

The research found that 76% of people believe that greater transparency around the activities of multinationals would be useful in determining whether they are paying the correct amount of tax.

The country’s international reputation is also suffering due to our tax policies with less than 30% of people surveyed believing Ireland’s international standing is unaffected by the tax policies here.

“Scandals like Lux Leaks demonstrate that while PAYE workers, and Small and Medium Enterprises pay top rates of tax, some multinationals get away with paying next to nothing,” commented Sorley McCaughey, head of advocacy at Christian Aid.

“What galls people is that Irish tax policy has been key to multinationals successfully avoiding the payment of vast sums of tax,” he added.

Mr McCaughey also said that the survey shows that people want a form of public country by country reporting, an issue that is being debated in Brussels at the moment.