Submitted by Student -201204997 on 11th of march 2013
Executive Summary
•Policy Makers in the United Kingdom may as well take notice and acknowledge that lower corporate tax can give essential profits to business competiveness without fundamentally hurting the medium-term budget viewpoint.
Several countries lately have reduced or plan to reduce their corporate tax rates in order to stimulate investment, create jobs and promote faster economic growth. This includes the Ireland where the rate of Corporation Tax has been kept at 12%.Recently published report of Northern Ireland (NI) Economic Strategy, identified lowering of corporate tax as the single measure that might have the most transformative effect on the national economy. Research by the Department for Enterprise, Trade and Investment’s (DETI) Economic Advisory Group (EAG) and Oxford Economics1 has already been carried out to estimate the economic impact that a reduction in the rate of Corporation Tax could have on the NI economy. However there is a need for further focussed research to determine what supply-side steps need to be taken to prepare the economy for this new economic trajectory, and to secure the maximum economic benefits from a lower rate of Corporation Tax. As highlighted later, international experience confirms that skills and employability foremost, and R&D capacity at a later stage, are central to securing the full economic benefits offered by a lower Corporation Tax rate environment.
This report addresses part of the research need discussed above by looking at the future demand for skills, employability and R&D capacity in NI under a 12.5% Corporation Tax rate scenario, and identifying implications for policy, drawing on international best practice.
Research by the Department for Enterprise, Trade and Investment's (DETI) Economic Advisory Group (EAG) and Oxford Economics1 has as of recently been done to gauge the monetary