In a comprehensive strategy paper examining the EU's future taxation policy, the European Commission (EC) has claimed that increased tax coordination within the EU would help member states to meet the objectives of making Europe the most competitive economy in the world by 2010. However, while it believes that a large measure of harmonization is necessary in the fields of value-added tax (VAT) and excise, the EC stresses that in other tax fields, coordination does not imply tax harmonization. The statement states: ?A reasonable degree of tax competition within the EU is healthy and should be permitted.?
June 30 2001