Ireland is benefitting from its friendly tax laws as multinationals flock to its shores to escape the high levies in the U.S.

This seems to be the gist of the analysis by Reuters which found that nearly half of the S&P 500 companies have subsidiaries in the country. The reason points to the very low corporate income tax, which at 12.5% is just a third of the 35% federal income tax of the U.S.

The U.S. Senate pointed this out when it called out technological colossus Apple for remitting very little or even no taxes to the US from the billions of dollars in profits it earned after setting up subsidiaries in Ireland.

But a spokesperson from the Department of Finance of Ireland said the government low threshold on corporate tax take is not geared for multinationals but rather to bolster the local economy.  The finance department also said it doesn't manipulate its tax laws just to accommodate a multi-billion investment.