At its plenary session on 24 February, the EESC adopted an opinion on the Commission's Communication outlining orientations for a reform of the economic governance framework. While the EESC agrees on the need for a swift agreement ahead of the Member States' budgetary processes for 2024, it also stresses that many details are yet to be finalised.
How should wages and company profits be taxed in a way that answers the needs of today's work environment? In an opinion adopted during its July plenary session, the European Economic and Social Committee takes up this challenge, while welcoming and encouraging the rise of teleworking.
In an exploratory opinion, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) insists on the importance of coordinated European legislation establishing tax rates for digital service companies. This will ensure a growth-friendly business environment and benefit the internal market, while avoiding the gaps that separate national initiatives would create.
The European Economic and Social Committee is calling on the European Commission to carry out more targeted impact assessments of its proposals for new EU budget funding sources to repay NextGenerationEU debt. The EESC generally agrees with the proposed EU "own resources" revenues for the budget. However, they need to be stable and fair – and should not burden households or businesses.
Italy's national anti-mafia prosecutor Federico Cafiero De Raho has called on Europe to act as a single country against organised crime, with enhanced monitoring systems and immediate judicial responses. An online conference hosted by the EESC discussed the ability of mafias to infiltrate the legal economy, and the even more dangerous threat this poses at a time of pandemic.
The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) broadly supports the Commission's legislative proposals on more efficient and fair taxation and praises their coordination at global level.
Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) requires more than political commitment, says the European Economic and Social Committee. Increased investment, especially by the private sector, is needed to address current economic, social and environmental challenges. The Committee therefore advises the EU and its Member States to adjust their investment and tax policies to enhance growth prospects, and thereby private sector contributions, to accomplishing the SDGs.
KristerAndersson participated as a panellist at the 73rd Congress of the International Fiscal Association (IFA) held in London on 8-12 September 2019. The IFA was established in 1938 in The Hague, the Netherlands, and it is now a truly global association with more than 12,900 members from 114 countries. Employees from tax authorities, government representatives, corporate tax officers and experts from tax law firms are members.
Given the sensitivities of qualified majority voting in tax matters, the European Economic and Social Committee supports the European Commission's ambition to kick-start a debate on how to reform decision-making in EU tax policy.
Corporate taxes could the the most harmful form of taxation to economic growth. Contrary to public perception, there has been no reduction in corporate tax revenues in relation to GDP in the last 40 years. Countries that have reduced their corporate tax rates in recent years have seen increases in investment in the following years. There is no race to the bottom, rather to a middle range of some 20% corporate tax rate and revenues are stable or even increasing. These are some of the conclusions of a recent study commissioned by the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) at the request of the Employers' Group.
