THE action taken by the European Commission against the Irish Republic for its tax policies and the criticism of Gordon Brown's budget plans underline the agenda of tax harmonisation in the Eurozone.
The European Commission is already telling us what we can and cannot do in terms of taxes and spending. At the moment, we can ignore them, but if we replace the pound with the euro, then we will have to start taking note of what they say.
Although we pay more on some taxes such as tobacco and fuel, overall taxes in Britain are a sixth lower than the Eurozone average.
It is partly because we have lower income taxes that take home pay in Britain is now well above the EU average. The last thing we need is the EC controlling our budgets.
ROD TURNER,
Business for Sterling West Midlands.
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