Scaemongering over economy unwarranted

THE GOVERNMENT warned yesterday that the image of Cyprus’ economy was in danger by the shameless scaremongering over the tax increase on corporate earnings.

“It is a joke for some to allege that profitable and serious companies will leave Cyprus when our country still maintains the lowest corporate tax in the whole eurozone and one of the lowest in the European Union,” government spokesman Stefanos Stefanou said.

The spokesman said these people risked denting the economy’s image over an minuscule and short-term tax increase.

The spokesman said that the European Council itself has stressed the need for the burden of the economic crisis to be shared out in a fair manner.

“Those who do not wish the contribution of the wealth in tackling the consequences of the economic crisis should say on whose shoulders they want to load the burden,” Stefanou said. “Is it the wage earners and workers?”

Finance Minister Charilaos Stavrakis announced the government’s intention to increase corporate tax and immovable property tax earlier this week.

The move was widely condemned by the business world.

It has been suggested that the move was part of President Demetris Christofias’ commitment to the trade unions during recent discussions on a possible wage freeze.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.