Should the EU implement a minimum taxation regime?

The century old international tax system is in the middle of being rebuilt. Between the hope of countries being able to reach a fair and balanced compromise, and the fear of the looming tax war finally breaking out, this article inquires whether the EU should implement a minimum taxation regime along the lines of the OECD GLOBE proposal. Embedded into a review of literature on international tax competition and coordination, and having elaborated on some key design questions from the perspective of the Internal Market and Member States´ financial stability, the article will tentatively answer the question in the affirmative. In this regard, the author underlines that, optimally, an EU minimum taxation regime should (i) disallow “blending”, but contain some relevant simplification measures, (ii) not contain substance carve-outs in relation to third states, and, if legally possible, also not with vis-à-vis other EU Member States, as well as (iii) contain a moderate minimum tax threshold, which could be around 10%. These features may adequately take account of different Member States´ characteristics and should safeguard the EU´s interest in the global tax arena.