A short presentation of IREF ‘Yearbook on Taxation in Europe’ Series
Among the many ways to understand the climate of opinion and the culture of a country, looking at its fiscal system is one of the most rewarding. Sure, fiscal systems almost always rhyme with complexity; each system bearing the weight of its history. But the attempts to change the system, to give it a new direction, are highly instructive.
The more freedom, the better the assessments ! That are the global conclusions of Sylvain Charat, Ph.D when comparing the European data base on school systems Eurydice and the OECD…
“There will have to be another program in Greece,” German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble said bluntly on August 20th. The two previous bail-outs amounted to about 240 billion euros but that was not enough. According to the International Monetary Fund, one the Troika member, the estimated uncovered funding needed by Greece for 2014-2015 may amount to 10.9 billion euros.
European Union finance ministers failed to reach a deal last week on this controversial issue. Germany and France are at odds about costs distribution. The Banking Union is at stake since this law on rescuing and closing banks in the EU is a key point. The problem is to know who is going to decide what will happen to a failing bank and who will pay for it.
43 billion Swedish crowns . As stated by the Waste Ombudsman (Swedish Taxpayers’ Association), this is the amount erroneously paid out by the EU according to its Court of Auditors.…
Among the many ways to understand the climate of opinion and the culture of a country, looking at its fiscal system is one of the most rewarding. Of course, tax systems almost always rhyme with complexity, each system bearing the weight of its history. But the attempts to change the system and give it a new direction are highly instructive.
To observe changes, debates and new directions in tax systems is precisely what the IREF Yearbook is all about. In that sense the Yearbook is not in direct competition with other annual reports on taxation that typically focus on numbers rather than on the philosophy behind them.
Energy policies are the object of fierce debates due to their important and multidimensional effects. It is in fact one of the major realms of action of the European Union. One of the main goals of current EU policy is known as the three 20s: a 20 per cent hike in energy efficiency, a 20 per cent cut in CO2 emissions and a 20 per cent share of renewables by 2020. This IREF publication contains four studies dealing with the various facets of EU energy policy.
An old American joke has it that hell is where the Swedes are in charge of entertainment. But the last laugh in fiscal policy matters in Europe will probably go to Swedish legislators as they vote for implementing a reduction of corporate income taxes (CIT).
New regulations from Brussels for periodical technical inspection (PTI) of automobiles will cost Slovakia’s drivers some 30 million euro, with questionable benefits says Radovan Durana, IREF correspondent in Slovakia (INESS).
The first phase of a €600 million public-private partnership on the Internet of the Future (FI-PPP) was launched today by European Commission Vice-President Neelie Kroes. The project aims to stimulate internet innovation, and reposes on the argument that “if we don’t invest and innovate first, our global competitors will”. Surprising point of view, giving the huge wave of innovations in the Internet area and the fact that they occurred without the help of any government.
