"Tech companies have become such a central part of the Irish economy that we’re now alarmingly reliant on the income they bring, even if the benefits are rarely felt by the average citizen."
If there are rarely benefits how can the economy be reliant on it?
rincebrain•2mo ago
If you have rearranged your budget so that 60% of it is provided by one source consistently, then you're not putting the 60% toward new programs, you're using it to finance the existing things everyone already expects of you.
And if you're using that to, say, avoid raising taxes to cover things like inflation or new projects, over time, the level of pain you're going to experience when you either have to make all those adjustments at once or, worse, if the income source is removed, gets worse and worse.
edit: in this case, specifically, it seems like the concern is that even the limited amounts of income from tech companies and knock-on effects from their employees is an enormous lifeline to Ireland's economy, and they're afraid of the rebound effects if it goes away.
Balinares•2mo ago
Wealth transfer from the middle class to the capital-owner class within an economy still leaves the wealth in that economy, it just doesn't benefit the masses.
In terms of how the wealth flows into the economy in the first place, it's tech worker wages, which are of course taxed at a rate that would give corporations an apoplectic fit. The money that funds said corporations' needs in public infrastructure and educated workforce has got to be procured somewhere.
scuff3d•2mo ago
Ireland has an insanely low corporate tax rate, and yet these companies still rip them off to the tune of billions of dollars. Doesn't matter how much you give, they always want more.
ta9000•2mo ago
Yes, when I think of counties lacking for revenue from tech companies, I think _Ireland_. How much is enough?
rightbyte•2mo ago
If there are rarely benefits how can the economy be reliant on it?
rincebrain•2mo ago
And if you're using that to, say, avoid raising taxes to cover things like inflation or new projects, over time, the level of pain you're going to experience when you either have to make all those adjustments at once or, worse, if the income source is removed, gets worse and worse.
edit: in this case, specifically, it seems like the concern is that even the limited amounts of income from tech companies and knock-on effects from their employees is an enormous lifeline to Ireland's economy, and they're afraid of the rebound effects if it goes away.
Balinares•2mo ago
In terms of how the wealth flows into the economy in the first place, it's tech worker wages, which are of course taxed at a rate that would give corporations an apoplectic fit. The money that funds said corporations' needs in public infrastructure and educated workforce has got to be procured somewhere.