Much has changed since July 2012, when, in reaching out for a European Union (EU)-funded bailout, the Cypriot Government resolutely denied the possibility of a hike to its prized 10% corporate income tax rate. Cypriot authorities' obstinate refusal to accept an earlier bailout, when the stakes were lower, led to a rude awakening for Cypriot taxpayers Saturday morning (March 16) with news not only of a symbolic hike to the island's corporate tax to 12.5%, but of Cypriot authorities' plans to purloin their savings with a shock smash-and-grab tax on bank deposits. Shortly after the announcement in the early hours of March 16 that a deal had been hammered out with the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank and the EU, Cypriot lawmakers were assembled to rush through legislation in an attempt to install the levy before Tuesday, March 19, 2013, when Cypriot banks are to reopen their doors after a three-day public
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