European leaders are preparing to meet in Brussels at the end of June for the next European Council meeting.

With an agenda prepared by Donald Tusk, President of the European Council, that one of the major themes being the Future of the EU, set out in the agenda for the assembled leaders, is no surprise.

This agenda builds on discussions held in March 2018, when EU leaders debated how to tax the digital economy, how to avoid tax evasion and avoidance, and how to ensure synergies at the EU and international level.

This last point – EU and international synergies – is of colossal significance. More and more rules are being passed that are harmonising taxes within the EU, and these steps are circling and undermining the core area of national tax sovereignty, which was once untouchable by EU treaties.

Now, with Britain heading for the EU exit, Eurozone states are actively discussing the creation of a fiscal capacity for the EU.

It is worth noting that the EU opting for tax harmonisation has been predicted for some time. This is, again, suggests that the EU is continuing to construct the various structures of the government of a single state, which is liable to lead to inherent instability.

Title VII of the Treaty of Lisbon talks about the approximation of tax laws, and Article 110 requires that no taxes distort the internal market (as do articles 112-113). All law previously involved protection of the market; yet now the EU is pressing forwards with moves to unite and harmonise taxes more and more, with the underlying implications.

These are as follows:

  1. If all Eurozone states have the same taxation rates, the logic of national sovereignty collapses. Everything is the same anyway – why have borders?
  2. If everything is the same, why then have elections? Voters will not be able to change their tax rates by voting for a tax-raising or tax-cutting government, as power will have moved to the EU level.

Decisions are expected in June, but this is an area to watch to see how far the EU presses forwards with its ultimate plans to abolish the nation state by steadily taking over each of its functions.