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Regimes allowing companies to pay small tax bills could be classed as government aid, Almunia warned (Photo: stumayhew)

Corporate tax breaks could be classed as illegal aid, warns EU competition chief

The European Commission will assess whether governments re-writing their tax laws to offer corporate tax breaks amounts to illegal state aid, the bloc's competition chief said on Tuesday (11 February).

Speaking at the European Competition Forum in Brussels, EU commissioner Joaquin Almunia said he would investigate whether moves by national governments to tailor their tax laws to allow companies to avoid paying tax had the same effect as a subsidy.

Subsidising certain businesses c...

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Author Bio

Benjamin Fox is a seasoned reporter and editor, previously working for fellow Brussels publication Euractiv. His reporting has also been published in the Guardian, the East African, Euractiv, Private Eye and Africa Confidential, among others. He heads up the AU-EU section at EUobserver, based in Nairobi, Kenya.

Regimes allowing companies to pay small tax bills could be classed as government aid, Almunia warned (Photo: stumayhew)

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Author Bio

Benjamin Fox is a seasoned reporter and editor, previously working for fellow Brussels publication Euractiv. His reporting has also been published in the Guardian, the East African, Euractiv, Private Eye and Africa Confidential, among others. He heads up the AU-EU section at EUobserver, based in Nairobi, Kenya.

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