Corporate taxation continues to slow down economic recovery in France despite the CICE, a tax credit meant to encourage competitiveness and employment.
The Greek crisis has cost taxpayers across Europe hundreds of billions of euros, compounded a huge recession which has plunged the country into vast unemployment and strangled the Greek private sector by burdening it with incredible amounts of taxation.
In a world where tax codes are riddled with loopholes and typically run into the thousands of pages, it should not come as a surprise that corporations would seek guidance on their potential tax liabilities prior to setting up shop in a country – and that governments would be eager to reassure investors.
The benchmark for assessing the legitimacy of any tax measure is the overall tax regime of the country in question, while the tax regimes of other Member States appear to be irrelevant in this context.
The Commission should work to preserve the highest degree of tax competition between Member States. The CCCTB poses the danger of fundamentally hindering this vital feature of the internal market, and should therefore be reconsidered.
The UK tax system is incoherent. Even ignoring benefits styled as tax credits and the withdrawal of child benefit, taxpayers can face seven different marginal rates of personal tax. In the long term, aiming for significantly lower levels of government spending could facilitate substantial marginal tax rate cuts, and the government should aim to return to a tax system with two, or preferably one, overall marginal rates of tax on income.