Read the fine print
Here’s one that, we confess, took us by surprise: in a recent study of tax attractiveness for business, when the final numbers were in, Mexico came in at a whopping…wait a moment…(removes glasses, rubs eyes, puts glasses back on)…number one??!!
Well, we are beaming, we must say. It’s not that we feel Mexico is not tax competitive – it’s just that, well, we’re still a little grumpy after filing our own Mexican corporate and personal taxes earlier this year. But in KPMG’s Competitive Alternatives 2010 Special Report: Focus on Tax, Mexico is ranked number one, with the lowest Total Tax Index (TTI) based on a study of 95 cities in 10 countries. The three major tax components under analysis in the report are corporate income tax, other corporate taxes, and statutory labor costs. Tax systems vary widely from country to country, of course, and the overall tax burden on businesses can vary significantly by industry within a country. Any attempt to boil down the corporate tax environment to a single index score will be complex, and KPMG addresses the challenges to such an undertaking in detail in their report. Nonetheless, at least in this document, we are number one, and we must say we are well chuffed. Now, if we can only keep the momentum going into the World Cup…
For a look at KPMG’s full report, go here.