The Borders of E.U. Tax Policy and U.S. Competitiveness

In March of 2011, the European Commission proposed that the member states of the European Union allow corporations to elect a harmonized corporate income tax. A particularly interesting feature of the proposal is that income would be allocated among the member states using a mathematical apportionment formula rather than, as currently is the law, by determining the source of income on a case-by-case basis. The E.C. proposal presents a number of interesting and important issues. One of the most interesting is how the apportionment feature of the proposal would impact business risk taking within the European Union. The European Commission believes that its proposal would provide for more efficient risk taking. This article agrees and goes further to note that, by making the E.U. a more attractive location for investment, the E.C. proposal would put the U.S. at a competitive disadvantage.