The Commissioner of Competition, Joaquín Almunia, resigned from his post amid investigations of tax practices used by Apple, Starbucks and Fiat. Brussels is looking at the reasons why Ireland, Luxemburg and the Netherlands are overlooking earnings taxes for these companies and thereby discriminating against other companies ? a potentially illegal move.
The Commission is lambasting member states, but even though the investigation could lead to numerous sanctions, this will not solve the problem. The root of the issue is that Europe does not have a common tax agenda since governments can't seem to agree on one. Until then, the companies that can find tax havens where they can pay zero to little taxes will do just that.
