One other point about the Ireland-Ghana tax treaty that Irish parliamentarians are about to debate. Of course it takes two to tango in a treaty - but it's not a level playing field. As capital exporters, developed countries hold more cards to start with. [thread]
Maybe this is why at the Oireachtas Finance Committee last month the minister was at pains to stress that Ghana first requested a tax treaty with Ireland, not vice versa. He said it three times. oireachtas.ie/en/debates/deb… 
Trouble is, the Department of Foreign Affairs' own records (released under Freedom of Information) suggest a different story.
Following the launch of Ireland’s new “Africa Strategy” in September 2011, in March 2012 DFAT brought together in Jo'burg trade reps from Irish embassies in Africa, Enterprise Ireland officials, and Irish businesses active in Africa to discuss trade constraints and opportunities.
This meeting, according to the minutes, identified as “deliverables” that Ireland would seek double-tax conventions with Nigeria, Ghana, Mozambique and Botswana.
DFAT then consulted Revenue about initiating negotiations with these four countries, a meeting whose notes suggest that the Irish government did not know at that stage whether there was interest from the four countries or not.
The Irish Ambassador to Nigeria & Ghana then met with Ghana's Ministry of Foreign Affairs in July 2012 to propose a treaty. The Ghanaian MFA agreed. The report of the meeting again suggests that this was the Irish government’s initiative, rather than the Ghanaian government's
Of course, we're not privy to all communications between the Irish and Ghanaian govts. If there was in fact a prior request from the Ghanaian government not included in these documents, it would be great to get clarification from the govt.
But on the face of it, this paper trail does look rather different to the Minister's statement in parliament ("Nobody forces a country into doing a tax treaty with Ireland. Ghana approached Ireland in relation to this")
Nor am I suggesting Ghana's govt wasn't a willing participant in the negotiations. But if wealthy countries like Ireland are drawing up hit-lists of African countries for tax treaties for Irish businesses, they have a responsibility to offer a decent deal.
And we know from the (redacted) papers that the negotiations hit some kind of stumbling block (we don't know what) about WHT rates: the taxes that (amongst other things) protect Ghanaian revenues in this situation from profit-shifting.
So overall, this was a planned effort to bargain down African taxes in selected markets for Irish businesses. That's a perfectly legitimate Irish govt objective, but not an act of development charity in response to Ghanaian requests.
@threadreaderapp unroll please
