Darling seeks to calm restive business over tax

Chancellor Alistair Darling will try to soothe business leaders' fears over the economy and higher taxes later on Tuesday, as concern grows that more firms could move their operations to more friendly climes.

Darling will tell the Confederation of British Industry annual dinner that no one sector will lose out because of a Treasury review into taxation of companies' overseas profits and that the government is committed to a competitive tax regime.

He will also probably outline how the government is tackling the economic slowdown and credit crunch as Britons get increasingly worried about their well-being in the face of soaring household bills and falling house prices.

A new opinion poll published in the Guardian on Tuesday showed the ruling Labour Party 14 points behind the opposition Conservatives - the worst in more than 20 years.

Labour was pushed into third place in local elections this month and risks losing a safe parliamentary seat this Thursday in a contest triggered by the death of the sitting member, raising more doubts about whether Gordon Brown will continue as Prime Minister.

Emboldened by the government's weakness, business has been upping the rhetoric on the need for lower, simpler taxes. Several high-profile companies, including Shire Pharmaceuticals and United Business Media, have already announced they will move out of Britain to Ireland to pay less tax.

"What business wants from the system of corporate taxation in Britain is clarity, certainty and competitiveness," said Martin Broughton, CBI President Martin Broughton will tell Darling at the dinner. "What we are getting is cost, complexity, and capriciousness."

"We now have a tax system which makes it harder for both British and foreign firms to justify investing in Britain."

The opposition Conservatives on Monday repeated they wanted to cut taxes and reduce government borrowing, but offered no detail on how this could be achieved given that they remain committed to maintaining Labour's spending totals.

OVERSEAS PROFITS

Darling has already been pushed into making several concessions over the last year. Most dramatically, he cut taxes for 22 million people last week to quell anger over the scrapping of a 10 percent tax band.

One area of debate at present is a Treasury review of companies' foreign profits due to appear by the summer.

Business has welcomed Treasury proposals last year to make foreign dividends tax-exempt but is concerned that the fine print of the document showed measures extending the net to intellectual property held offshore.

A Treasury spokesman said that the intellectual property tax regime was one area currently being looked at.

Darling has set up a multinational advisory group to look at the business tax regime, with a mixture of private sector leaders and economists on board.

One member of that forum, Oxford University Professor Michael Devereux, has said more companies may leave British shores because of more attractive tax regimes elsewhere -- such as Ireland.

CBI director-general Richard Lambert and representatives from major companies such as HSBC bank and Rolls Royce are also on the committee.

Darling will extend his charm offensive to a board meeting of the Association of British Insurers on Wednesday - the first time a Chancellor of the Exchequer has done so - with tax, financial stability, climate change and savings on the agenda.

"Clearly, it is timely given the economic and political circumstances," an ABI spokesman said.