Sarkozy & Company

Are they trying to have it every way?

(from www.businessworld.ie today…)

French brochure claims tax rate of 8.2pc

Monday, March 21 08:28:47

The French Agency for International Investment cites an effective tax rate of 8.2pc in advertising literature aimed at attracting foreign business to the country , the Irish Times reveals this morning.

Its claim has been revealed as President Sarkozy’s complains about Ireland’s low 12.5 pc rate.

The agency – which is the equivalent of the IDA – says ambitious tax-cutting policies have made France’s corporate tax regime “just as competitive” as countries such as Ireland..

In a brochure, quoted by the paper, the agency cites a recent study by the World Bank and PriceWaterhouseCoopers which put France’s effective corporate tax rate at 8.2 pc, considerably below its nominal rate of 33.3pc.

It also quotes a separate report by KPMG that estimates the effective rate in France was 15.4 per cent.

“For the past five years, France has been pursuing an ambitious policy to reduce corporate tax,” the agency explains in the brochure.

“Although the nominal rate of corporate tax is higher than the European average, the corporate tax system has become just as competitive as in other European countries.”

Among the tax breaks that can bring the effective rate down are credits for hiring older workers or setting up in a poor region. There is also a research credit of 30 pc, which the brochure says is “one of the most generous in the world”.

“The implementation of all these mechanisms has the effect of reducing the effective tax rate for companies which settle in France, compared to the nominal rate,” it says.