The Entrepreneurship Concept in a European Comparative Tax Law Perspective

This ground-breaking study of entrepreneurship in Europe is a greatly expanded and updated version, in English, of the author's thesis published in Dutch in 1996. Its far-reaching analysis focuses on "bottlenecks" and cross-border problems confronting European entrepreneurs in the areas of income tax, corporate income tax, and value-added tax. Four countries are chosen as representative of all the tax systems existing within the EC: The Netherlands, Germany, France, and the United Kingdom. The author spares no detail in his examination, explaining such important elements and distinctions as the following: how the entrepreneur is viewed under the varying tax regimes and in the different countries; entrepreneurship and the professions; incentives; sources of income; partnerships; companies and shareholders; calculation of taxable profit; justification for a separate corporate income tax; taxation of foundations and societies; and the possibility of fiscal unity among Member States for VAT purposes. In the course if this rigorous analysis, the author identifies the domestic tax provisions that hamper the full establishment of the single market envisioned by the EC Treaty. The lasting importance of this invaluable book cannot be overestimated. For taxation professionals and scholars -- in Europe of course, but in other countries too -- it will open new vistas of understanding, thought, and policy.