asked the Minister for Finance if his attention has been drawn to a proposal by the European Commission to revive an earlier proposal made in 1975 for the introduction of common rates of corporation profits tax; and if he will indicate the way in which the original proposal would have affected the 10 per cent rate of corporation profit tax which applies to manufacturing in Ireland.
Written Answers. - Corporation Profit Tax.
53.
The EC Commission has recently acknowledged that the draft directive put forward in 1975, and on which little significant progress has since been made, will need to be reviewed. No specific new proposals have yet emerged in this area.
In regard to the second part of the Deputy's question, even if the 1975 draft directive had been implemented in its original form, this country would still have been able, by way of derogation under Article 3 (2) of the draft, to introduce the 10 per cent rate for manufacturing companies with the approval of the Commission, as we did in 1980.