Andorra in 2012

==Andorra== in 2012

Area: 468 sq km (180 sq mi)
Population (2012 est.): 86,500
Capital: Andorra la Vella
Heads of state: Co-princes of Andorra, the president of France and the bishop of Urgell, Spain
Head of government:Chief Executive Antoni Martí Petit

In 2012 Andorran Chief Executive Antoni Martí Petit, whose Democrats for Andorra party had ousted the ruling Social Democrats in 2011, took on the job of reforming the tax system without striking the deadly third rail—income tax. Beginning in January, Andorran-owned businesses were taxed at 5%, and a value-added tax was scheduled to be introduced on Jan. 1, 2013. Those measures were enacted in addition to a 10% tax on foreign-owned businesses that had become law in 2011. Although Andorra traditionally had been regarded as a tax haven, Andorrans had long been subject to a two-tiered property-tax system that was applied separately to households and to property owners.

Tourism, long the driving force of Andorra’s economy, picked up in 2012 after a small slide in the previous two years. In addition, Andorrans witnessed changes in banking practices that made that sector more open.

Andorra sent six athletes to compete in the 2012 Olympic Games in London. Though the country had made its Olympic debut in 1976, it had yet to win a medal.

by: Anne Roby