IPPR: UK is attractive option for foreign investors

Date: 1st February 2010

By keeping corporate taxes low and making it easy for foreign organisations to set up business operations, the government has already made the UK "attractive".

This is the view of the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) who said an influx of companies from overseas could be of benefit to the UK economy.

The comment follows the publication of a government discussion paper outlining proposals to alter the "tax treatment" of controlled foreign companies (CFCs).

IPPR senior economist, Tony Dolphin explained that the "upside" of this tax attractiveness is that it can create jobs within the UK.

He said: "The upside is that you get companies coming here and setting up new production plants and so on.

"The standard argument is that the UK makes more cars now than it ever used to make when it owned its own car companies."

Mr Dolphin added that by reforming the tax rules for CFCs the government could ensure that the UK remains a competitive market as global post-recession confidence increases.