An organisation representing some of the State's biggest employers called on the Government to broaden the tax breaks available for research and development (R&D) in Budget 2005.
Speaking at a Thanksgiving lunch in Dublin yesterday, Mr Ciaran Ennis, president of the American Chamber of Commerce, Ireland, said it welcomed the introduction of a 20 per cent tax credit for companies that spend more than €50,000 a year on R&D in 2004's budget.
But Mr Ennis called on Finance Minister, Mr Brian Cowen, who was a guest at the lunch, to consider broadening the scope of the incentive in the package he is planning to announce next week.
He explained that under the scheme announced in 2003, the relief is calculated from a base year dating back three years before the one for which it is claimed.
"For example, for the years 2004, 2005 and 2006, the base against which the R&D spend will be measured will be the R&D expenditure incurred in 2003; for 2007 the base year will be 2004 and so on," he said.
"We believe that R&D credits should be calculated against a fixed-base year and we hope that the Minister will consider making 2003 a fixed-base year for the purposes of this relief." Mr Ennis added that this would create an incentive to locate high-quality research jobs in the State.
Addressing the gathering, Mr Cowen said that the Government had placed R&D at the centre of its economic strategy. He added that an action plan published by State agency Forfás set out ambitious targets for R&D spending.
