BUSINESS TAXATION : BERNE MANAGES TO STAY AHEAD OF THE GAME.

Evelyne Widmer-Schlumpf was not in good stead, on 27 November. It was a close shave for the Swiss minister of finance, who narrowly avoided seeing the margin of manoeuvre of the Swiss Federal Council (government) reduced in its negotiations with the EU on business taxation.

Aamotion tabled by the Council of States (Senate) was finally rejected by 15 votes against, 13 votes in favour and three abstentions - against the Commission's ad hoc opinion. The motion had been tabled on 15 June 2012, in other words well before the commitment Switzerland made, in May 2013, with Brussels to abolish cantonal tax regimes for holdings, domiciliary companies and joint enterprises. The motion was to avoid using the EU's best practice code of conduct for taxation. It also called for a mandatory ten-year deadline for changes to the tax rules. In the eyes of the president of the Senate committee, the discussion with Brussels makes it even more necessary to "avoid retaliatory measures so that the contribution of the law can be a determining element in...