The Pfizer/BioNTech jab is having an unexpected side-effect on the German municipality where scientists first developed it: for the first time in three decades the city of Mainz expects to become debt-free thanks to the tax revenues generated by the company’s global success.
Mainz’s decision to use its financial windfall to also slash corporate tax rates in the hope of attracting industry, especially biotech companies, however, is drawing criticism from neighbouring cities and economists.
The city of about 217,000 inhabitants in the western state of Rhineland-Palatinate, has been carrying a crippling debt burden since the early 90s when authorities took out a loan that grew to €1.3bn (£1.1bn). Over the first year of the pandemic, the Rhine
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