With Pranab Mukherjee resigning as India’s finance minister to stand as a presidential candidate, and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh taking over the vacant position for the time being, the implications for Indian tax policy could have been dramatic.
COMMENT: The IRS and Treasury have already moved to tighten the rules relating to US firms moving to low-tax jurisdictions, but encouraging companies to stay rather than building barriers to prevent them leaving is a more worthwhile and growth-friendly road to go down.
The UK Treasury has released plans to give the country’s creative industries tax reliefs that it describes as “among the most generous in the world”. The move has been welcomed by industry groups and the tax director of a leading hi-tech multinational.
Presidential candidate Mitt Romney used his speech at a Business Roundtable event in Washington, DC, last week to call for an end to the tax levied when US corporations repatriate their foreign profits.
In the latest Senate Finance Committee hearing into US tax reform, the impact of reform on energy policy was assessed, with committee chairman Max Baucus saying it provides the energy sector with an opportunity to make real progress in securing future energy supply while also simplifying the tax code.
