A Swedish committee on corporate taxation has recommended changes to the rules governing interest deductibility. Hundreds of US businesses are not happy with the proposed reforms.
Labour, the opposition political party in the UK, will raise corporation tax if it comes to power after the next election. And Shabana Mahmood, shadow exchequer secretary to the Treasury says her party would also focus on improving tax transparency.
The popularity of corporate inversion transactions has grown considerably in the past few years, with notable examples including Medtronic-Covidien, Actavis-Warner Chilcott, Elan-Perrigo and Liberty Global-Virgin Media. Now shareholders in US companies are asking: “If our rivals are doing this, is it something we should be considering?”
Repealing the carbon pricing mechanism was the first item on the Tony Abbott-led government’s agenda. Indeed, he may never have become prime minister if he had not promised to do so. Up to now he has failed in his attempts to repeal the tax, but that could all change next week.
The UK tourism industry received a boost this week as politicians came out in support of the Cut Tourism VAT campaign to reduce VAT on the sector. It has emerged that EU approval is not needed to go ahead with a cut, which could raise £4 billion and which would bring the UK’s rate on tourism more into line with the rest of Europe.
