The Minister of Justice, Koen Geens, (Christian Democratic and Flemish party) questions whether the budget will be able to support a Corporation Tax decrease, as the Minister of Finances, Johan Van Overtveldt (of the New Flemish Alliance party) proposes. He is not proposing a veto but simply considers the moment which his colleague has chosen as strange.
"It is something of an off-beat rhythm that Minister Van Overtveldt is executing, you might say a difficult musical tempo," the CD&V Minister stated on the VTM platform. In 2014 Mr Van Overtveldt's Finance predecessor had already proposed revisiting the Corporation Tax rate but did not get the support of other parties. In 2015, lengthy discussions took place around such a tax shift.
“I have heard nothing regarding a Corporation Tax decrease”, explained Mr Geens. “I do not know if this tax reduction will now be possible for us. As a result, this type of so-called test balloon is no use to us. The Minister of Finances should particularly ensure that there are tax revenues produced. We will no doubt see, in the budgetary audit, whether it is still necessary to make savings anywhere,” the Minister added.
On Saturday, the CD&V Deputy Prime Minister coolly welcomed the proposal “It is estimated at 3.5 billion euros.” He asked, “Where will we find that kind of money?" The Finance Minister proposes reforming Corporation Tax, by introducing, alongside the existing system, a rate of around 20 and 22%, with no tax deduction mechanism, a point which came out of an interview, which he gave on Saturday to the daily newspaper L'Echo.
(Source: Belga)
