4 ms·

"The amount of the fines is paid into the Community budget. The fines therefore help to finance the European Union and reduce the tax burden on individuals." h

• friism 17y ago
  I wonder whether the fine will be taken out of "Intel Europe" profits (in which case member states can't collect as many taxes) or whether money will be moved from the US to Europe? In the latter case it's a small, but not insignificant, redistribution of wealth across the Atlantic..., sort of like the Marshall Plan, except without the smiles.
• laut 17y ago
  I doubt that they will lower the payments from the member states based on this. And if they did, I doubt that the member states will reduce the tax burdens because of that. They have given fines out before. If anyone can point to an example where the tax burden was reduced after a fine, I would like to see it.
  • blue1 17y ago
    As I understand it, about 65% of the EU budget is paid by the states as a percentage of their Gross National Income. This percentage is decided by the Council (i.e. the member states themselves). So in theory the fine could lighten the burden on the states. However, the 2009 budget of the EU is about 130G EUR, the Intel fine is about 1% of that, and the EU budget is small compared to even a single member state, so the amount per citizen is negligible anyway.
• mahmud 17y ago
  So bureaucrats are robbing monopolists.