The Commissioner vs the states: responsiveness and responsibility in European tax governance

IF 4.6 1区 社会学 Q1 POLITICAL SCIENCE
Frédéric Mérand
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Abstract

ABSTRACTThe European Union is the only international organisation that has a parliament where taxation is debated and legislated on. Along with foreign affairs and defense, however, taxation is also one of the few policy areas that is subject to unanimity voting among member-states. This creates a responsiveness-responsibility dilemma that the European Commission has tried to navigate by constructing responsiveness to public demands for tax justice as a political imperative. In this article, I apply the concept of ‘political work' to analyse EU tax policy between 2014 and 2019 and show the ways in which the politics of responsiveness partly eroded the institutional constraints of responsibility vis-à-vis member states. As I document, the Commission’s political work was initially successful but then lost momentum, as a handful of governments managed to veto efforts in the Council and push the issue to the OECD, where it was stalled by the United States until the election of Joe Biden.KEYWORDS: European Unionglobal corporate taxationdigital taxationtax evasionpolitical work AcknowledgmentsA first version of this paper was presented at the two ‘Responsibility and Responsiveness in EU Economic Governance’ workshops organised at the Université libre de Bruxelles in September 2022 and February 2023. The author would like to thank the organisers of the workshop and special issue (Amandine Crespy, Tiago Moreira Ramalho, and Vivien Schmidt) as well as the discussants (Lucy Kinsky, Cornel Ban) and two anonymous reviewers commissioned by the Journal of European Public Policy for their constructive comments. Above all, he is grateful to the Commission officials who agreed to be observed and answer his numerous questions over the course of almost five years.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1 I thank a reviewer for helping me clarify this point.2 I thank a reviewer for alerting me to this window of opportunity.Additional informationNotes on contributorsFrédéric MérandFrédéric Mérand is Professor of Political Science at Université de Montréal. He has published ‘Political work in the stability and growth pact’, Journal of European Public Policy 29(6): 846–864.
委员对国家:响应和责任在欧洲税收治理
【摘要】欧盟是唯一一个拥有议会的国际组织,议会负责对税收进行辩论和立法。然而,与外交和国防事务一样,税收也是少数几个需要成员国一致投票的政策领域之一。这就造成了一个反应-责任的困境,欧盟委员会试图通过将公众对税收公正的要求作为一项政治要务来应对。在本文中,我运用“政治工作”的概念来分析2014年至2019年期间的欧盟税收政策,并展示了响应性政治在一定程度上侵蚀-à-vis成员国责任的制度约束的方式。正如我所记录的那样,委员会的政治工作最初是成功的,但后来失去了动力,因为少数政府设法否决了理事会的努力,并将这个问题推给了经合组织,在美国的阻挠下,直到乔·拜登(Joe Biden)当选总统。关键词:欧盟全球企业税收数字税收逃税政治工作确认本文的第一版于2022年9月和2023年2月在布鲁塞尔自由大学组织的两次“欧盟经济治理中的责任和响应”研讨会上发表。作者要感谢研讨会和特刊的组织者(Amandine Crespy, Tiago Moreira Ramalho和Vivien Schmidt),以及讨论嘉宾(Lucy Kinsky, Cornel Ban)和两位受《欧洲公共政策杂志》委托的匿名评论家的建设性意见。最重要的是,他感谢委员会官员在将近五年的时间里同意观察和回答他的许多问题。披露声明作者未报告潜在的利益冲突。我感谢一位审稿人帮助我澄清了这一点我感谢一位评论家提醒我这个机会之窗。其他资料关于捐助者的说明。他是蒙特里萨大学的政治学教授。他发表了“稳定与增长公约中的政治工作”,欧洲公共政策杂志29(6):846-864。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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来源期刊
CiteScore
8.80
自引率
9.50%
发文量
83
期刊介绍: The primary aim of the Journal of European Public Policy is to provide a comprehensive and definitive source of analytical, theoretical and methodological articles in the field of European public policy. Focusing on the dynamics of public policy in Europe, the journal encourages a wide range of social science approaches, both qualitative and quantitative. JEPP defines European public policy widely and welcomes innovative ideas and approaches. The main areas covered by the Journal are as follows: •Theoretical and methodological approaches to the study of public policy in Europe and elsewhere •National public policy developments and processes in Europe •Comparative studies of public policy within Europe
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