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Commissioner Šemeta presented the following key ideas:
Until now, it has been difficult to establish a direct link between the advent of monetary union and changes in the tax system. First, while fiscal rules have been established for the monetary union, they are not specific to taxation. Most significant changes in tax policy until now were linked to the completion of the internal market.
Euro area countries are not a homogeneous group: the potential links between tax policy and monetary union may differ by country size as will the potential spill-over of effects.
Tax reforms in the EU Member States have been influenced by many other developments independent of the existence of the euro.
The issue of tax shift is particularly relevant. The objective behind tax shifting is to stop taxing the things we wish to support (like income and savings) and shift towards taxing less distortive bases or things we do not want (like waste and pollution). But reducing income from a tax base as stable as labour - although a necessity - for more mobile bases bears risks for Member States. A coordinated framework for tax shift should give them better guarantees of success and help to ensure fair and acceptable competition.