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Just yesterday they put a whistleblower which published such tax evasion schemes in connection with Luxembourg into prison (LuxLeaks). They ruled that illegal s

by tobias3 10y ago

Just yesterday they put a whistleblower which published such tax evasion schemes in connection with Luxembourg into prison (LuxLeaks). They ruled that illegal state aid, because the Luxembourg tax authorities actively helped the companies setting up this scheme. The then prime minister and ex-finance minister of Luxembourg Jean-Claude Juncker is now EU Commision president. So either he is incompetent and did not know about this, or he was involved. He claims he is only incompetent. With the EU leadership being corrupt or incometent, it is no wonder the big companies are dancing circles around the national tax authorities.

kuschku 10y ago
> With the EU leadership being corrupt or incometent, it is no wonder the big companies are dancing circles around the national tax authorities. Well, it’s more like the EU can not do anything while the national authorities can veto them, and the national authorities still have the competence for that, and the right-populists in the EU are proposing even less power for the EU authorities.
- tobias3 10y ago
  Yes, indeed. And now Juncker is trying to pass CETA without national parliaments and that is currently backfiring, too. There was this moment during the crisis where I think we could have moved forward with EU bonds, a proper banking union, increased EU budged and debt relief for Greece. But now we are stuck with a deteriorating status quo. I blame Merkel for lack of leadership but maybe she just knows the limits of what she can push through.
saalweachter 10y ago
There's also the huge "problem" that the countries in the EU want to maintain sovereignty. France and Spain can't really stop Ireland from doing whatever the hell it wants without giving up some of their own sovereignty. In the United States, one of the biggest powers of the Federal government is its power to regulate interstate commerce. No one in the EU is willing to give it so much authority.
- AnthonyMouse 10y ago
  > In the United States, one of the biggest powers of the Federal government is its power to regulate interstate commerce. No one in the EU is willing to give it so much authority. To be fair, if the US is the model, you can imagine why they wouldn't want that. I don't think the people who wrote the commerce clause were imagining federal micromanagement of local schools or the War on Drugs.
  - kuschku 10y ago
    Interestingly, not even in Germany the federal government micromanages the schools. So even Germany is less integrated than the US on that. Even after 200 years of every closer integrations.

by tobias3 10y ago

kuschku 10y ago

> With the EU leadership being corrupt or incometent, it is no wonder the big companies are dancing circles around the national tax authorities. Well, it’s more like the EU can not do anything while the national authorities can veto them, and the national authorities still have the competence for that, and the right-populists in the EU are proposing even less power for the EU authorities.

tobias3 10y ago
Yes, indeed. And now Juncker is trying to pass CETA without national parliaments and that is currently backfiring, too. There was this moment during the crisis where I think we could have moved forward with EU bonds, a proper banking union, increased EU budged and debt relief for Greece. But now we are stuck with a deteriorating status quo. I blame Merkel for lack of leadership but maybe she just knows the limits of what she can push through.

saalweachter 10y ago

There's also the huge "problem" that the countries in the EU want to maintain sovereignty. France and Spain can't really stop Ireland from doing whatever the hell it wants without giving up some of their own sovereignty. In the United States, one of the biggest powers of the Federal government is its power to regulate interstate commerce. No one in the EU is willing to give it so much authority.

AnthonyMouse 10y ago
> In the United States, one of the biggest powers of the Federal government is its power to regulate interstate commerce. No one in the EU is willing to give it so much authority. To be fair, if the US is the model, you can imagine why they wouldn't want that. I don't think the people who wrote the commerce clause were imagining federal micromanagement of local schools or the War on Drugs.
- kuschku 10y ago
  Interestingly, not even in Germany the federal government micromanages the schools. So even Germany is less integrated than the US on that. Even after 200 years of every closer integrations.