UK: the devolution of corporation tax setting powers

The Institute for Fiscal Studies published its Green Budget 2012 earlier this week: see here. This includes a chapter on corporate tax setting - see here (pdf) - in which the IFS states that there are compelling reasons to maintain a single rate of corporation tax across the UK, including administrative simplicity and the reduced potential for harmful tax competition. These points are made against the background of debate about whether the the power to set the rate of corporation tax should be devolved in Northern Ireland and Scotland.