As the European Union (EU) and European Central Bank (ECB) continue to work to impose austerity and taxation on its own members to help pay for the massive debt and liquidity crisis created by themselves, a startling new turn of events is leading the EU authority to try to impose dominion over a nation that is not even under the EU organization.
On November 28th, the monetary capital of the EU out of Brussels has placed intense pressure on the neutral state of Switzerland to begin increasing taxes on businesses to keep their own member nations from fleeing the insufferable economic strictures laid upon them, and to keep those businesses from moving to the tax friendlier environment of Switzerland.
Despite not being a member of the European Union, Switzerland is under intense pressure from Brussels to raise taxes as companies flee high-tax EU welfare states in favor of more business-friendly Swiss cantons. And if the nation refuses to bow down soon, so-called “eurocrats” are threatening retaliation.
The Swiss government has been in discussions with EU bosses for over a year regarding Switzerland’s non-compliance with the “EU Code of Conduct for Business Taxation.” The EU’s goal, according to the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation, is to eliminate what the supranational regime in Brussels calls “harmful tax practices” — low taxes which attract capital, businesses, jobs, and workers away from the crumbling European super-state.
But the EU tax regime does not apply to Switzerland, Swiss authorities insist. The nation has a long history of avoiding foreign entanglements, and despite immense pressure, it has steadily resisted calls to submit to regional authorities and continental "integration" schemes. – The New American
The desperation of the EU to keep control over the system, and businesses that support the authority’s central bank through massive taxation and regulation is quite similar to what has taken place in the United States over the past several years. Corporate headquarters have moved offshore to friendlier tax havens such as Ireland and of course, Switzerland, and now many European companies are doing the same to avoid the draconian tax structure of the EU.
There is always a fine line between good taxation policies that benefit the needs of a nation’s citizens and government. That line however can become skewed as politicians and crony capitalists seek to use these policies to gain political power, or economic largesse. The European Union for decades since its creation has sought to expand its political dominance over member nations, and grow its authority beyond the economic charter it was first created with. It is slowly accomplishing this with the installment of central bankers into positions of leadership in both Greece and Italy after the deposing of their elected Presidents in the past two months.
The chessboard is expanding for the European Union, and they are now attempting to impose their will upon nations that are not even a part of their organization. The continued pressure the EU is imposing on the neutral state of Switzerland to increase taxation on EU member businesses that move their headquarters there for the purposes of avoiding the draconian taxes of the union itself, shows just how far the Union is going to consolidate complete control over the sovereign nations and businesses which constitute the fragile union at a time of massive economic strife and crisis.
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