Investors care more about security than corporate tax rate - Lithuanian finance minister

VILNIUS - With Lithuania's ruling parties leaning toward raising the corporate income tax rate by one percentage point to 17 percent and businesses fearing it will scare away investors, Finance Minister Rimantas Sadzius says that, for investors, security is now a bigger concern than additional tax rates.

"I'm convinced that the fear of investments fleeing just because we adjust the corporate tax rate is not only exaggerated, but it reflects a mindset that might have made sense before, when there wasn't a war around us," Sadzius told the Ziniu Radijas radio station on Thursday.

"Because now investors are more concerned about the country's security than the corporate tax rate," he added.

According to the minister, the way markets and investors view a corporate tax rate hike has changed.

"We should forget those simple concerns about one or another percentage point of the corporate tax rate or personal income tax rate. Security has become an absolute priority, including for the investors we are expecting," he said.

The ruling bloc is considering raising the corporate tax rate by one percentage point to 17 percent, and the Finance Ministry has proposed increasing it to 18 percent.

Additionally, a working group set up by the coalition supports three personal income tax rates - 20, 25, and 32 percent - and is considering introducing a universal real estate tax and raising other taxes.