Even countries traditionally viewed as committed to a 'laissez-faire' approach to economic policy-making have often adopted tax incentives as a lever of economic policy. Tax relief to encourage investment was introduced in Britain as early 1945, for example (Heidenheimer et al., 1990: 152). The pervasiveness of tax breaks for specific business activities (particularly investment) arguably means that 'mere' comparison of corporate tax rates offers an incomplete picture of the tax burden on business. For example, two of the countries possessing the ostensibly highest corporate tax rates in the late 1980s, Sweden and Germany, also had the most extensive systems for tax deductions (ibid.193).