The repeal of dividend withholding tax was ‘not on’, the Minister for Finance, Charlie McCreevy has said. But he added, ‘I said to my officials that the easiest thing to do would be to abolish the whole idea but ?50 million has been brought in’.
The Minister said he had ‘read representations in some Irish tax magazines’ that the tax should be abolished.
At the Second Stage of the Finance Bill, the Minister said, ‘the application of a withholding tax is an effective collection mechanism’.
He added, ‘affording exemption only to those non-Irish residents who are resident in tax treaty countries is consistent with the logic underlying tax treaties and serves to reassure our international colleagues of the integrity of the Irish tax system.’ |
