An average of 67% of businesses would not relocate their business to another country for any level of reduction in their corporate tax rate according to a survey of 3, 450 businesses from 44 economies by Experian, as part of the quarterly Grant Thornton International business report.
With 94% of business leaders saying they would not move abroad for a lower corporate tax rate, New Zealand business leaders were the most resistant to move, followed by Georgia at 92%, Switzerland at 90%, France at 88%, Germany at 87% and then Ireland at 86%.
Russian, Indian, Taiwanese Greek, Botswanan and Norwegian companies were the most willing to move for a lower rate.
Francesca Lagerberg, Grant Thornton UK's head of tax and incoming global leader of tax at Grant Thornton International, said this showed that headline rates were only part of the story, and that "what matters to most corporates who operate internationally is how they can manage their effective tax rates so a single change in one place isn't always enough of a push or a pull."
When asked if they favoured lowering the corporate tax rate in their country even if it meant eliminating some current tax deduction, 68% of business leaders said they would, with over 90% saying this in Vietnam, Malaysia and Peru.
Two in five business leaders (61%) thought their government was not doing enough with tax measures to help ease economic pressures, with Argentina (92%) and Japan (86%) topping the list, followed by Poland and Spain (both on 82%).
Lagerberg commented that "given the current environment where tax is headline news, what would be ideal would be governments co-operating more on tax issues and providing clarity on a global basis."
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