Tax rates are a political decision with fiscal impacts. And despite the fact that all voters are influenced by taxes, at least voters who have a strong opinion on the issue of excise duties (e.g. alcohol, tobacco, etc.) affect the election outcome.
To better understand the need for a change in policy, this article first provides a brief overview of the current legislation and its implementation in member states and then looks at how current proposals for new minimum rates were formed. Finally, it evaluates whether increasing taxes on alcohol is the best course of action.
Let’s be honest. Governments remember deregulation in their talks with businesses or during election campaigns. But they do not pay nearly as much attention to deregulation as they do to expanding regulatory obligations, increasing taxes, or telling people how to behave.
The “green mechanism”, which will become actually effective on 1 January 2016, should work. No sooner than next year we shall see, though, whether it will function effectively and meet the expectations of the majority of players.
Cash payment restrictions would increase individual and corporate expenses and would cause payment inconveniences. How would one be expected to make larger payments at weekends when interbank transfers are not made? A forced „banking“ of cash reduces competition among payments methods.
There are those who view markets as functional (albeit imperfect) tools for economic decisions and those who think markets always fail at this task. Add to that the intricacies of the energy sector, and the discussion about markets in the energy sector becomes an argument between economists and engineers written down by lawyers.
A need for deregulation in Poland is recognized by the vast majority of both experts and politicians. Calls for deregulation echo in subsequent election campaigns, though to little effect. So why, despite a seemingly broad consensus, deregulation in Poland remains a problem?
The European Commission has re-launched the Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base (CCCTB) initiative. The renewed proposal for a CCCTB introduces a two-step approach: efforts will first concentrate on agreeing the rules for a Common Corporate Tax Base (CCTB), and consolidation will be left to be adopted at a later stage (CCCTB).
Slovakia is experiencing situation common to many European economies. The price of electric energy on the market is falling, so is the overall consumption of electricity. And yet, the final price for consumers, especially in the industrial sector, remains high.
The Commission believes the transformation of electricity system and redesigned electricity market to have an added value to cross-border competition as well as to promote decentralized electricity generation (self-consumption and innovative energy service companies).
