North gets tax rate option

Britain pledged to devolve corporation tax setting powers to Northern Ireland as soon as next year but only if Belfast can break a political deadlock on budget cuts, a condition described as “breathtakingly arrogant” by nationalist Sinn Féin.

Northern Ireland shares mainland Britain’s 21 percent corporate tax rate, much higher than a 12.5 percent rate across the border in Ireland that has helped the country become one of the largest recipients of US foreign direct investment.

All sides of Belfast’s devolved government — where power is shared between nationalist and unionist parties following three decades of sectarian violence — favour lowering the corporate tax rate to help boost employment in the province.