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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: 4, Insightful) by Thexalon on Tuesday February 14 2017, @02:31PM
"Business and political circles in Switzerland had supported the plan, which was designed to prevent taxes rising sharply for foreign investors."
That right there is a red flag. Those in business circles have exactly one goal, which is more money for themselves. They do not have the interests of their nation, their employees, their customers, or their vendors in mind. If they're meeting with political circles, then you can be sure that they are basically looking to convince the politicians to sell out their constituents. And if those in political circles are willing to go along with it, that almost definitely means that the politicians in question indeed sold out.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by mechanicjay on Tuesday February 14 2017, @05:48PM
Yes, this. I was prepared to make almost the exact same observation.
The important take-away here is that the Swiss people still retain control over their government -- its hasn't been taken over by corporatists.
My VMS box beat up your Windows box.