Taxing matters

ANYONE interested in power tends to be interested in tax, and the bureaucrats who run the European Union are no exception. Over the years, they have proposed dozens of directives to harmonise taxes, ranging from value-added to corporate taxes. Yet, apart from an agreement to keep VAT rates roughly together, these proposals have gone nowhere—chiefly because they require the unanimous approval of EU members, which remain jealous of their fiscal sovereignty. Recently the European Commission, after much wrangling, proposed a directive to set minimum tax rates for energy products, but few officials even in Brussels expect it to be adopted by national governments.