Lithuania has no plans of raising profit tax - finmin

VILNIUS – Lithuania should not raise corporate profit tax, as it could result in a lost competitive advantage over other European Union (EU) countries, says Finance Minister Vilius Sapoka.

"For Lithuania it is very important to attract investments into productive sectors. We not only have on of the lowest profit taxes but also the best package at EU level for research and development, for innovation, for new technologies, commercialization of activities. Therefore, to lose this competitive advantage for us, of course, we would not be happy and I don't believe that there will be consensus on that topic," Sapoka said in an interview to Bloomberg when asked about the possibility for EU countries to unify their profit tax tariffs.

The Lithuanian finance minister said he did not think the EU would have a sufficient degree of unity for unification of the tariffs.

"Maybe this question can be raised in the future but as for now I don't see much space for such discussion," said the minister.

Lithuania currently has a 15-percent profit tax, which his one of the lowest across the EU.