Netherlands Eager To Cut Corporate Tax Burden

by Ulrika Lomas, Tax-News.com, Brussels

29 April 2011

Dutch State Secretary of Finance, Frans Weekers has announced that his fiscal agenda includes increasing taxes on consumption whilst reducing the tax burden on companies in an effort to increase the number of international investors positioning headquarters in the Netherlands.

According to the Minister, the nation’s corporate tax rate of 25.5% would ideally be reduced in the short-term to 24%. The tax burden will be reduced also by removing as many as six national levies on businesses, including the packages tax, he announced.

Explaining the move, Weekers said that the plan correlated with a general trend across Europe with many nations looking to consumption-based taxes for new revenues, and using corporate tax cuts to compete for international business. Netherlands’ relatively low rate, Weekers said, would place Netherlands higher up a 'shortlist of countries' under consideration by international investors seeking to make European investments.

The Netherlands’ relatively mild taxation regime for corporates has been sufficient to compete with the likes of Ireland and Bulgaria in attracting a number of big name multinational companies.

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