Tax Harmonisation: Bulgaria Supports Ireland

Views on BG | April 2, 2011, Saturday // 13:58
Bulgaria: Tax Harmonisation: Bulgaria Supports Ireland Bulgaria's Finance Minister Simeon Djankov (left) met with Ireland's new Prime Minister Enda Kenny (right) in Dublin on Friday, April 1, 2011. Photo by Finance Ministry

From The Irish Times

By Caroline Madden

Bulgaria's finance minister has backed Ireland's stance on corporation tax. During a visit to Dublin yesterday, Simeon Djankov described his country as an "ally" in the fight against EU tax harmonisation.

Mr Djankov expressed solidarity with Ireland and its defence of its corporation tax rate. He said it was in the interests of at least 10 EU states to resist the push for a harmonised tax base.

Harmonisation would benefit very few countries "at the expense of everybody else", he said.

Bulgaria also has a low flat rate of corporation tax (10 per cent compared to Ireland's 12.5 per cent), but the effective tax rate is almost the same as the nominal rate.

Mr Djankov added that small open economies like Ireland and Bulgaria did not have the competitive advantage of large domestic markets, which the larger member states did.

The current push for harmonisation was "misguided" and displayed a lack of economic understanding, he said.

The EU as a whole would lose competitive advantage to other large players such as China and Brazil if there was a move to high taxes and exemptions. If international corporations were willing to move from smaller to larger EU states, they could also move to non-EU regions, to the detriment of total EU tax revenues.

Although the pressure on Ireland to increase its corporation tax rate had been more "pronounced", Bulgaria had also received a lot of "urging" to rethink its tax system, he said.

The Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency) report of Bulgarian Finance Minister Djankov's working visit in Ireland READ HERE

We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!

Views on BG » Be a reporter: Write and send your article
Tags: finance minister, Michael Noonan, Simeon Djankov, Enda Kenny, ireland, euro, Nicolas Sarkozy, Angela Merkel, France, Germany, Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov, EU, Euro Area, euro zone, euro-plus-pact, Euro Pact, European Council, Boryana Pencheva, Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base, CCCTB, bailout, corporate tax rate, corporate tax

Advertisement
Advertisement
Bulgaria news Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency - www.sofianewsagency.com) is unique with being a real time news provider in English that informs its readers about the latest Bulgarian news. The editorial staff also publishes a daily online newspaper "Sofia Morning News." Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency - www.sofianewsagency.com) and Sofia Morning News publish the latest economic, political and cultural news that take place in Bulgaria. Foreign media analysis on Bulgaria and World News in Brief are also part of the web site and the online newspaper. News Bulgaria