Vers une harmonisation de l'impôt des sociétés en Europe ? Analyse du régime fiscal belge

Abstract

Globalisation has been occurring for decades, making capital and labour more and more mobile. This has led companies to relocate their activities around the world. This wave of relocation means that companies started to generate profits in many different countries. This led to a growing competition between states, who wanted to attract as many companies as possible on their grounds and to benefit from the tax revenues that it can generate. Tax competition has been marked by diminishing corporate tax rates everywhere in Europe and in many places worldwide. Belgium also followed these trends and decreased its corporate tax rates across time. However, its rate stayed among the highest ones in Europe. Belgium still managed to attract companies with its strategy, which consists in shrinking its corporate tax base thanks to several tax expenditures and deductions granted to some kinds of firms. At the same time, companies are also using more and more techniques to evade taxation or decrease their tax burden. This has prompted Europe to react and to propose solutions to prevent this kind of behaviour from firms. Current solutions are seeking to harmonise as much as possible national tax regimes and European policies.