Tax Competition within the European Union Revisited Is the Relaunched CCCTB a Solution?

The author addresses the phenomenon of taxable profit-shifting operations undertaken by multinationals in response to countries competing for corporate tax bases within the European Union. The central question is whether this might be a relic of the past when the European Commission\xe2\x80\x99s proposals of 25 October 2016 relaunching the Commission\xe2\x80\x99s original proposal for a Council Directive on a Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base sees the light of day. Or would the EU-wide corporate tax system provide incentives for multinationals to pursue artificial tax base-shifting practices within the EU, potentially invigorating the risk of undue governmental tax competition responses? The author\xe2\x80\x99s tentative answer on the potential for artificial base shifting and undue tax competition is in the affirmative. Today, the issue of harmful tax competition within the EU seems to have been pushed back as a result of the soft law approaches that were initiated in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and the recent implementation of a number of the OECD\xe2\x80\x99s anti-BEPS initiatives on an EU-wide basis. But things might change if the CCCTB relaunch proposal as currently drafted enters into force. There may be a risk that substantial parts of the EU tax base would instantly become mobile as of that day. As the EU Member States at that time seem to have only a single tool available to respond to this \xe2\x80\x93 the tax rate \xe2\x80\x93 that may perhaps initiate an undesirable race for the EU tax base, at least theoretically

From Nearby Low Luminosity AGN to High Redshift Radio Galaxies: Science Interests with Square Kilometre Array

We present detailed science cases that a large fraction of the Indian AGN community is interested in pursuing with the upcoming Square Kilometre Array (SKA). These interests range from understanding low luminosity active galactic nuclei in the nearby Universe to powerful radio galaxies at high redshifts. Important unresolved science questions in AGN physics are discussed. Ongoing low-frequency surveys with the SKA pathfinder telescope GMRT, are highlighted.Comment: To appear in Journal of Astrophysics and Astronomy (JOAA) special issue on "Science with the SKA: an Indian perspective