Taxing times: a difference of opinion over controversial Swiss tax breaks for foreign companies is threatening to place further strain on the country's already brittle relationship with the European Union. But what is the argument really about, who is in the right, and will they get their way?

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POLITICS

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Taxing times: a difference of opinion over controversial Swiss tax breaks for foreign companies is threatening to place further strain on the country's already brittle relationship with the European Union. But what is the argument really about, who is in the right, and will they get their way?

When the European Commission and the Swiss government held separate press conferences the day before St Valentine's Day, love was certainly not in the air. In fact, the only thing the briefings in Brussels and Bern seemed to have in common was frequent use of the words "ungrounded" and "negotiations". While both sides considered the opposing argument to be ungrounded, the European Commission argued that negotia...

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