Can Tax Sovereignty and the Internal Market Co-Exist without Emptying the Public Treasury?
| Author | Raymond Luja |
| Published date | 01 June 2015 |
| DOI | 10.1177/1023263X1502200301 |
| Date | 01 June 2015 |
| Subject Matter | Editorial |
22 MJ 3 (2015) 325
EDITORIAL
CAN TAX SOVEREIGNTY AND THE
INTERNAL MARKET CO-EXIST WITHOUT
EMPTYING THE PUBLIC TREASURY?
R L*
e topic of direct ta xation does not make it into the Maastricht Journal ver y o en.
is is somewhat su rprising, given that the EU’s courts have rendered severa l hundreds
of cases in which di rect taxes like personal income ta xes and corporate ta xes played a
central role, in par ticular during the last 30 year s. is includes many groundbreaking
cases on the EU’s funda mental freedoms – the o en-overlooked freedom of capital
being one of them – and on state aid. ere is a sheer contrast with i ndirect taxation and
customs, as the f ree movement of goods was one of the rst freedoms to really develop in
the Court of Justice’s (CJEU) case law in the 1960s a nd 1970s.
In this issue, Professor L enaerts provides us with t he opportunity to bu ild a bridge
between tax law and t he fundamental freedoms once agai n in a well-timed contribution
on the concept of ‘abuse of law’ and its strained relationship with these f reedoms.1 We
also have a case note by Professor Cordewener bringing us an update on the Marks &
Spencer doctrine t hat led to much discussion in the tax world.2
e research area of international and Europea n tax law is chang ing quite quickly
these days, in par ticular in respect of the tax ation of multi national enterprises. Some of
them are being accused of t rying to avoid tax ation and not paying their ‘ fair share’ to
Member States’ budgets, an issue t hat became a matter of public outrage a er Member
States had to get through t he rather recent nancial cris es. We should keep in mind that
* Professor of Compar ative Tax Law at Maastricht University, scal st ate aid expert at Loyens & Loe
N.V., and a Membe r of the Editoria l Committee of the Ma astricht Jour nal of European and Compa rative
Law.
1 See in this i ssue K. Lenaerts, ‘ e C oncept of “Abuse Of Law” in the Case Law of t he European Court
of Justice on Direct Tax ation’, 22 MJ (2015).
2 Case C-446/03 Marks & Spencer plc, EU:C:2 005:763. See in this issue A. Cordewene r, ‘Cross-Border
Compensation of “Fin al Losses” for Tax Purpo ses – e D rama Continues… Case C -172/13European
Commission v. United Kingdom, EU:C:2015:50’, 22 MJ (2015), p. 417 et seq.
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