Why this book?
Member States of the European Union have always insisted on their unrestricted national sovereignty. This book focuses on the crucial issue of the balance between the imperatives of the fundamental economic freedoms of the EC Treaty and the legitimate national interests of the Member States in protecting their national tax systems. This theme, which was the subject of the annual conference of the European Association of Tax Law Professors (EATLP) held in Paris in June 2004, has been divided into the following four major subject areas: (1) the significance of the prohibitions of discrimination and restriction within the framework of the fully integrated market; (2) the lessons to be learned for taxation from the application of these prohibitions in areas other than taxation; (3) the basis and scope of the public interest justification advanced by the Member States for tax measures violating the fundamental freedoms; and, last but not least, (4) the compatibility of the “national tax principles of the Member States” with a fully integrated market.
Since the conference was held immediately following the enlargement of the European Union, attention has also been given to the adaptation of the tax systems of three major new Member States (the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland) to the requirements of the “acquis communautaire”. Finally, there is a special contribution on the effect of the prohibitions of discrimination and restriction in non-EU countries (Norway and Switzerland).
This book presents a comprehensive study of the tax issues that play a decisive role in the making or breaking of the European Economic and Monetary Union. Consequently, these issues are considered not only at the level of political and economic decision making, but also at the level of the day-to-day application of national tax law in the single market.
This book is part of the EATLP International Tax Series
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Contributor(s)
Axel Cordewener, Daniël Déak, Malcolm Gammie, Luc Hinnekens, Moris Lehner, Xavier Oberson, Piotr Karwat, Tonje Reitan, Frans Vanistendael, Lucie Vorličková, Frederik Zimmer