An outline of the CCCTB (Common Consolidated Corporate Tax ...

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7. Some elements of a conclusion As will be evident from all the preceding details, the CCCTB is a huge project and constitutes per se a fundamental transformation of the tax landscape in Europe. 27 Besides the numerous technical issues that still need to be resolved and on which the European Commission will have to make choices, some of them very difficult, a number of important political and institutional questions remain unanswered. Whether they refer to the optional nature of the regime, to consolidation, to the sharing mechanism or to the one-stop-shop method of administration, none of the choices is simple or devoid of implications, and each of them must be approached / valuated with care. What does seem to be firmly established, by contrast – as the interest aroused in the academic world testifies – is that Europe is confronted by a formidable challenge and by a choice that will, to a certain extent, be crucial to its future development. The work that has been done, however, shows that there is a solution which is appropriate and consistent with the fundamental aim of the single market and, above all, that there is no alternative. It should be re-emphasised that the CCCTB would eliminate the main tax obstacles to cross-border business activity, for taxation would no longer be based on the principle of separate accounting systems and transfer pricing, the offsetting of profits and losses would be immediate, obstacles to corporate reorganisations would be virtually eliminated, domestic investment would no longer receive preferential tax treatment, and the weight of the administrative costs borne by businesses would be sharply reduced, as would the risks of double taxation. To be as effective as possible, the common tax base must be broad enough to facilitate agreement among the Member States, which would otherwise seek to go on clinging to their national derogations, to enable any Member States that so wish to lower their nominal tax rates and, above all, to create a simple system that offers operators greater legal certainty and limits the potential distorting effects of economic decisions. It remains to be seen how the Commission’s proposal, which is expected in September 2008, will ultimately be received by the Member States. Not all of the national positions are fully known at the present time. Some Member States have expressed support, especially those that have indicated a wish to chair technical subgroups (Germany, Italy, France, Spain and Denmark), and France in particular has stated that this subject would be one of the priorities of its presidency. Others have expressed scepticism (Britain) or fairly outright opposition (Ireland) from the outset. 27 See the excellent presentation of this topic by Joann Martens-Weiner in Company Tax Reform in the European Union – Guidance from the United States and Canada on Implementing Formulary Apportionment in the EU, Springer Science+Business Media, New York, 2006. See also “EC Tax review” n°3 and 4, 2008 on CCCTB 30
At this stage, then, it is difficult to imagine this proposal obtaining unanimous support, even in the medium term, and it could therefore be the first opportunity for the European Union to test its ability to engage in enhanced cooperation in a particularly sensitive area. There certainly seems to be no legal obstacle to its adoption under enhanced cooperation if a minimum of eight Member States – or nine after ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon – so request. It would therefore be the first use of that legal basis if a qualified majority decided to invoke it. 31
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Page 11 and 12: Taxes other than corporate income t
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