UK urged to cancel corporate tax raise to boost investment

Bloomberg

The UK should cancel its planned corporate tax increase in order to ensure Britain remains an attractive place to do business, according to a new report by the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS).
The UK’s corporate tax on companies with annual profits of more than £250,000 is due to rise to 25% in April from the current 19% as part of Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s efforts to bring down government borrowing.
While business leaders still see the UK as being more attractive than its European counterparts as a place to do business, Britain is losing ground, according to the centre, which says it interviewed more than 100 investors and business leaders for its report.
The CPS is calling for the UK government to enhance tax breaks that boost investment, reform regulations that hold back investment and empower cities and regions to promote themselves as destinations for new capital.
It also wants Prime Minister Boris Johnson to lead the country’s efforts to attract investors, as President Emmanuel Macron has done for France.
“In post-Brexit Britain, it is essential that we re-establish our own economic identity and play to our many strengths as a nation to restore the entrepreneurial environment and enthusiasm that existed during the Thatcher government in the 1980s,” said Howard Shore, chairman of Shore Capital.