Reducing Portugal's corporate income tax rate from 31.5% to 20% would save this country

One of the biggest issues with Portugal and why it’s so poor is that it has a negative business climate and that’s directly due to this:

Portugal has the highest corporate income tax rate in Europe at effectively 31.5%, comparatively Spain is 25%, similarly Netherlands is 25.8% and those are economies outperforming Portugal by far.

One article in Economics Observatory writes:

Raising the income tax rate has by far the least negative effect on GDP. In the long run, the simulation shows that the economy pretty much returns to baseline levels, with a slight increase in potential output.

The opposite is true for corporation taxes. A rise in the corporation tax rate leads to a severe and negative initial fall in GDP. Potential output also decreases. This leads to lower productivity, higher inflationary pressures and deteriorating economic circumstances in the long run.

A rise in indirect taxes (such as VAT) does not affect GDP quite as badly as a rise in corporation taxes, but it does affect GDP more substantially than a rise in income taxes. Indirect taxes operate largely through the price channel, increasing the prices of goods. By artificially raising prices, demand is curtailed.

Lowering Portugal’s corporate income tax rate to 15% to 20% would make it more competitive than Spain, France and Italy, while not making it a tax haven by any means.

Portuguese would return to the country to start businesses, and the foreigners that are already here would move their companies here too.