- Nov 11, 2009
- 12,290
Corporation tax in France is 33%, Germany 22-33%, ours is 19% scheduled to be reduced to 17%. We're like a tiny nation desperate to attract investment rather than standing confidently and having a fair tax regime. The only loss would be if foreign companies invest abroad, but no one is proposing we make ourselves less competitive than other countries, just bringing our corporation tax in line with the other G7 countries for a start. Our corporation tax receipts as a % of GDP are as low as they've been since the early 90s.
“We should be trying to attract investment based on being a really great place to invest, not low tax rates,” said Mariana Mazzucato, a professor of economics at University College London
Foreign investment is a small part of the big picture, the sums simply do not add up, it will not raise 19.4 billion, its snake oil. We dont need to be in line with failed socialist France or on par with the leading economy in Europe, Germany. We need to ensure that the maximum amount of tax revenue is raised in this country that also protects and considers a much wider picture and its effect. Setting corporation tax at 7p higher will not deliver 19.4 billion, independent economists suggest it could actually lose 8 billion per annum, the figure is derived from a simple economic principle that for every 1p tax raise it equates to just under approx 3 billion, except that simplistic equation, assumes everything else to remain equal, same national growth, same amount of new business, same employment rates, same foreign investment, same business investment. What will actually happen when businesses lose 7pc of their profit?
Many on struggling to survive will cease, those that can will move the business to Ireland, giving an extra 7% of nothing with resultant job losses. many other businesses here will not go forward with investment or take on new staff, many others will be forced to lay off staff. It will cause less employment and higher unemployment, those are all facts. You cant set an economic policy based on ideology, it has to make good economic sense.
The figures on that tree and in the Labour manifesto are 100% illusory, the taking of this action will do untold damage to an economy already heavily in debt and with a structual deficit. Who doesnt want a better NHS etc, everyone does, but any plans for social justice can only be realised, and more importantly paid for by getting the economics bit right, this corporation tax policy is a complete red herring and a lie and it will do untold damage to the country and its end results will be less money in the treasury than today.
I am not a business owner, or wealthy nor do I earn over 80k, but this policy is rubbish, resulting in the Labour governments programme being paid for with debt and for which we will again be asked somewhere down the road to pick up the pieces and suffer the consequences of austerity. Nothing in life is free. I actually think something more sinister is going on as it has under many previous Labour administrations, its not for many and not the few..........its simply hammer the wealth generators, raise taxes, increase the civil service, give power back to union barons, increase immigration...... in fact do anything, however damaging, if it will help the Labour party, keep as many people enslaved and dependent on the Labour party as possible. Put Labour in charge of social justice programme by all means, but they should never be allowed near the economy, they dont make sound economic decisions they make ideological ones that cause irreparable damage and everyone suffers long term because of it.