Pressure on France over corporate tax exemptions

FRANCE has been told it must claim back millions of euro from companies it gave special exemptions to from paying the full rate of corporate tax.

The Irish government, in defending the country’s 12.5% corporation tax rate has been making the case that many companies in France and other countries do not, in fact, pay the high tax rates because of special exemptions.

French president Nicolas Sakrozy has been the most vocal among the EU leaders in demanding that Ireland increase its tax rate in exchange for the EU-IMF loan.