A competitive tax regime – frankly who wouldn’t want one? The UK government said two years ago that it wished to create the most competitive corporate tax regime among the Group of 20 largest economies. In yesterday’s Budget it took another step in that direction, announcing that the headline rate of corporation tax would fall to 22 per cent by 2014, from 24 per cent in April. So companies that pay their taxes in the UK have reason to cheer. But as with a lot of things fiscal, appearances can be deceptive.
有競爭力的稅收制度?坦率地說,哪個國家不想實行。英國政府兩年前表示,希望制定出在20國集團(G20)中最有競爭力的企業所得稅制度。英國如今朝著上述方向又邁出了一步。根據週三公佈的預算案,到2014年,英國企業所得稅的基本稅率將從今年4月份的24%降至22%。於是,在英國納稅的企業有理由歡呼了。但與許多財政事務一樣,表象可能具有欺騙性。