Disapproval: British tax-cut plan not a good idea, says EU
Brexit: Austria minister believes Britain will not quit EU
PARIS:
The European Union’s top economic official on Tuesday criticised a British proposal to slash corporate tax to less than 15% following the nation’s vote to quit the bloc. Britain’s Finance Minister George Osborne said that he would seek to reduce corporation tax to less than 15% over fears of a corporate exodus following the June 23 referendum to leave the EU. The bloc gave a frosty reception to the plan, however, saying it would raise the threat of a competitive series of corporate tax cuts as countries try to lure firms to their shores. “We should not enter into exacerbated fiscal competition between ourselves, or fiscal dumping,” EU Economic Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici said in the first public reaction by the EU to Osborne’s proposal. Prior to the Brexit vote, British tax rates on corporate profits were already set to be cut from 20% to 19% next year and to 17% in 2020. The new target, would give Britain the lowest rates of any major economy, and put it closer to the 12.5% rate in EU member Ireland.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 6th, 2016.
The European Union’s top economic official on Tuesday criticised a British proposal to slash corporate tax to less than 15% following the nation’s vote to quit the bloc. Britain’s Finance Minister George Osborne said that he would seek to reduce corporation tax to less than 15% over fears of a corporate exodus following the June 23 referendum to leave the EU. The bloc gave a frosty reception to the plan, however, saying it would raise the threat of a competitive series of corporate tax cuts as countries try to lure firms to their shores. “We should not enter into exacerbated fiscal competition between ourselves, or fiscal dumping,” EU Economic Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici said in the first public reaction by the EU to Osborne’s proposal. Prior to the Brexit vote, British tax rates on corporate profits were already set to be cut from 20% to 19% next year and to 17% in 2020. The new target, would give Britain the lowest rates of any major economy, and put it closer to the 12.5% rate in EU member Ireland.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 6th, 2016.