Voters in Switzerland have rejected a plan that would have kept generous multinational tax breaks intact:
Swiss voters have rejected a plan to reform the country's corporate tax system, sending the government back to the drawing board. Business and political circles in Switzerland had supported the plan, which was designed to prevent taxes rising sharply for foreign investors. However 59% of voters opposed the plan in Sunday's referendum vote.
The government will now need to find an alternative, which may involve higher tax rates for multinational companies. "It will not be possible to find a solution overnight," said Ueli Maurer, Switzerland's finance minister. He told a press conference it could take a year to come up with a new plan, and that Switzerland risked losing foreign investment as a result.
Also at Reuters, MarketWatch, and Bloomberg:
The government is at pains to find a solution at a time when countries such as the U.S. are seeking to gain a competitive edge with their own business tax reductions and after a strong currency-induced slowdown in economic growth. Switzerland, which has succeeded in attracting big global corporations like Procter & Gamble Co. and Caterpillar Inc., already bowed to international pressure and scrapped banking secrecy after a crackdown on tax evasion by other countries.
(Score: 2) by Bot on Tuesday February 14 2017, @07:26AM
Switzerland would get the whole of Italian population inside, if it had open borders.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 3, Funny) by r1348 on Tuesday February 14 2017, @07:42AM
Let's not get ahead of ourselves here, we would not even FIT in there!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 14 2017, @12:43PM
Switzerland would get the whole of Italian population inside, if it had open borders.
OP clearly stated "open boarders". He was obviously talking about pirate attacks on Swiss Merchant Marine [wikipedia.org].