Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-12-12-Speech-1-157"

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"en.20051212.18.1-157"2
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"It is widely accepted that the current state of the EU economy is in part due to the fundamental problem of a lack of competitiveness in comparison with advanced countries such as the United States. Tax competition has a considerable effect on the state of the European economy, and this is currently reflected most noticeably in the low economic growth recorded by some of the older and larger Member States, as against the more rapid growth of the majority of new Member States that are implementing vigorous structural reforms, including tax reforms. The lack of political will for implementing structural reforms is often brushed over by accusing new Member States of tax dumping and then claiming a need to address any imbalance by harmonising direct taxes. This debate on corporate tax base harmonisation is a consequence of such efforts. The argument that tax base harmonisation will have no impact on tax rates and therefore no direct impact on tax competition is not entirely correct. The tax base and tax rate are to some extent interrelated, depending on the breadth of the harmonised tax base and the scope of exclusions and deductibles. For instance, taking the present German model as the basis, Slovakia would be forced under current circumstances to increase its tax rate in order to maintain current tax inflows. On the other hand, I understand the argument that tax base harmonisation should lead to greater transparency among the individual systems in the European Union, providing for simpler comparison between individual countries. A reduction in transaction costs for businesses and in the number of court disputes would also constitute considerable advantages. Commissioner, I believe that the European Commission should consider carefully all of these arguments in respect of the tax base harmonisation proposal in order to maintain an appropriate degree of tax competition between Member States as a necessary prerequisite for increasing the overall competitiveness of the European Union."@en1

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