Swiss Voters Reject Plan to End Tax Breaks for Foreign Companies -

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Swiss Voters Reject Plan to End Tax Breaks for Foreign Companies - ZURICH — Voters rejected plans to overhaul Switzerland’s corporate tax system, according to provisional results on Sunday. Ueli Maurer, the Swiss finance minister, said the government now needed time to address with the cantons — or Swiss states — a situation that business leaders have called a dangerous legal limbo. In addition, many cantons have said they would decrease corporate tax rates for all companies to reduce the fiscal burden and dissuade multinationals from leaving. The results on Sunday showed that just over 59 percent of voters — who have the last word under the Swiss system of direct democracy — opposed the plans, which the country’s political and business elite embraced under international pressure. Switzerland has been criticized by the European Union and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development over the special tax status that the cantons give foreign companies. To offset the blow to companies, the government had proposed tax breaks on research and development in Switzerland, profits from patents developed there, and deductions for excess company equity. The government says such special-status companies employ 150,000 people and contribute half of the federal corporate taxes.