Dublin South West TD, Seán Crowe, has described AIB’s profits of €1.25 billion as bloated by the sacrifices of Irish taxpayers and that the absurd corporation tax break for banks must end.

The Sinn Féin TD said his party has proposed a 25% cap on the losses that can be carried forward coupled with a ten year time limit for banks that have experienced difficulties. Ireland is almost unique in having neither a time limit nor a cap on losses that can be carried forward to write off against bank profits.

Deputy Seán Crowe

“AIB announced it made a profit of €1.25 billion in 2018. This bank is more than capable of paying its fair share of tax and should be made do so.  Tax breaks like this mean that workers and others who are tax compliant have to carry this burden while banks like AIB pay little or nothing.

“Sinn Féin challenged the current Government on this issue when it first came to light and we will continue to call for banks to pay their fair share of tax on their profits.

“The Minister for Finance, Pascal Donohue, tries to portray this as a standard tax law. In fact, it is anything but standard. Fine Gael changed the law in 2014 so that the restriction would be lifted. The thinking behind the NAMA legislation that relates to this tax break was that this type of carrying forward of losses would be limited.

“Ireland is almost unique in having neither a time limit nor a cap on losses that can be carried forward to write off against profits.

“Last year we even had a government report on the issue which showed that any potential reduction in the value of bank shares held by government would be dwarfed by the billions in tax that could be collected over the coming years.

“The bottom line is that three bailed out banks have now announced profits of €2.5 billion between them, but they are exempt from corporation tax. This must end. The current system is absurd and the cosy corporation tax deals for banks must be curtailed.”

ENDS