Angela Merkel

International Tax Review is part of Legal Benchmarking Limited, 1-2 Paris Garden, London, SE1 8ND

Copyright © Legal Benchmarking Limited and its affiliated companies 2025

Accessibility | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Modern Slavery Statement

Angela Merkel

Chancellor, Germany

Angela Merkel

As one of the chief proponents of the financial transaction tax (FTT) and European tax harmonisation, Angela Merkel’s place on this list is assured. Certainly it would be difficult to imagine the FTT, an idea previously only ever entertained by radical economists and academics, gaining such momentum in the EU without the backing of Germany and its conservative Chancellor.

Returned to power this year in a new left-wing/right-wing coalition, Merkel now has a clear mandate to push forward with her plans to introduce an FTT alongside 10 other EU member states.

Merkel’s Germany is also a strong supporter of a common consolidated corporate tax base (CCCTB). While proposals for a CCCTB have somewhat sat on the back-burner in the last year, could Merkel’s re-election see them pushed forward?

Meanwhile Merkel joined her counterparts in France, Germany, Spain, Italy and the UK to lead calls for the EU-wide automatic exchange of banking data.

In so many ways, Germany is at the forefront of global tax reform, ensuring Merkel’s influence far beyond her country’s borders.

Further reading

Fools rush in where Angela should fear to tread

EU: Harmony or discord?


The Global Tax 50 2013

« Previous

Alan McLean

View the complete list

Next »

Oscar Molina

more across site & shared bottom lb ros

More from across our site

Braun gives ITR an exclusive insight into WTS Digital’s UK launch of its AI product, which can free up more than 1,500 hours per month by reducing routine tasks
Long tells ITR about her varied role, why curiosity is a key characteristic for the tax professional, and what she’d be doing if she wasn’t working in tax
The choice facing governments is not whether to adopt AI in taxation, but how to do so in a way that upholds the principles of tax fairness, writes Neil Kelley
As ITR’s client data reveals discontent with German tax advisers’ cost management, Grant Thornton’s local TP head insists it’s a two-way street
Uncertainty isn’t always a bad thing, but it’s easy to see how the Trump administration’s IRS commissioner merry-go-round may serve to undermine business confidence
The EU defended its ‘sovereign right’ to impose the tax in the face of US tariff threats; in other news, the US deputy Treasury secretary resigned after just five months
Ascoria’s chief revenue officer shares her career wisdom garnered from the disparate worlds of tax technology, electric cables, radio DJing and more
Businesses no longer have a choice when it comes to tax technology transformation. Pavlo Boyko of TMF Group says the question is simply: sink or swim?
The firm is hunting for a senior TP manager in its quest to build a full-service practice in Indonesia, A&M Tax’s Jakarta head Jaap Zwaan tells ITR
With a new government in place, the evolving tax landscape presents both opportunities and challenges for taxpayers
Gift this article