Allister rejects Corporate tax proposal

13 December 2005

Speaking in the European Parliament, DUP MEP Jim Allister attacked the Commission proposal which lays the basis for a uniform Corporate Tax throughout the EU.  Mr Allister identified Corporation Tax Rates as a key component in any country's fight for inward investment and stressed how important it was that it should remain under national control.  In this context, the DUP MEP called for a reduction in Corporation Tax in Northern Ireland, as was recently recommended by an economic task force under Sir George Quigley.  In the course of his remarks, Mr Allister said:-

"The Commission's proposal for a common consolidated corporate tax base is indisputably an assault upon taxation being exclusively a competence of Member States.

A common tax base leads inexorably to common tax rates.  By the stealth of this proposal, Brussels aspires to displace the nation state as the deciding authority on company taxation.

National control of corporation tax has been a key weapon in the arsenal of many countries in fighting for international investment.  Estonia and its growth economy well illustrates the point as does the Republic of Ireland.

Thus, harmonisation of tax would rob Member States of the right to adjust their tax regimes to suit their own needs and would bestow across Europe yet another stultifying "one-size-fits-all" suppression of national initiative.  For economic growth, independence and freedom of action is essential, with more not less national flexibility.  For example, corporation tax in an area like Northern Ireland should be radically reduced as a means of stimulating investment and thereby moving us away from over-dependence on the public sector."

EU Parliament