Humiliation

A few days ago, the Irish Times carried a story claiming that the former chief executive of Anglo Irish Bank David Drumm paid only €10,000 in income tax between 2005-08. Today, they had to retract the story. It seems he paid in excess of €6 million in income tax during his period on the bank’s board.

Yesterday The Irish Times incorrectly reported that Mr Drumm had paid only €10,000 in tax during the period. The report was based on an incorrect interpretation of a document filed by the Revenue Commissioners in a court in Boston.

Income tax returns for the period show that Mr Drumm paid income tax of €6.31 million on gross income of €12.47 million.

The effective tax rates on his income during the period ranged from 36.52 per cent in 2004, the year he was appointed to the board, to 54.1 per cent in 2008, his last year on the board.

Still, it is scandalous enough that this man earned close to €13 million working for a bank that destroyed the Irish economy.