Flawed EU Tax Disclosure Standards Will Cause Confusion
The EU public country-by-country data provides information on taxes and profits that do not align with standard financial disclosure requirements.
6 min readDaniel Bunn is President and CEO of the Tax Foundation. Daniel has been with the organization since 2018 and, prior to becoming President, successfully built its Center for Global Tax Policy, expanding the Tax Foundation’s reach and impact around the world.
Prior to joining the Tax Foundation, Daniel worked in the United States Senate at the Joint Economic Committee as part of Senator Mike Lee’s (R-UT) Social Capital Project and on the policy staff for both Senator Lee and Senator Tim Scott (R-SC). In his time in the Senate, Daniel developed legislative initiatives on tax, trade, regulatory, and budget policy.
He has a master’s degree in Economic Policy from Central European University in Budapest, Hungary, and a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from North Greenville University in South Carolina.
Daniel lives in Halethorpe, Maryland, with his wife and their three children.
The EU public country-by-country data provides information on taxes and profits that do not align with standard financial disclosure requirements.
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The new data disclosures will draw significant attention in 2026 and beyond. However, because the data is rooted in financial accounting concepts, affected by timing issues, and shaped by inconsistent reporting regimes, it is poorly suited for drawing strong conclusions about tax policy or corporate behavior.
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AI may be a transformative technology, but that is not a good justification for throwing core principles of tax policy out the window.
Voters in California this fall will have to determine whether the state will institute a billionaire tax. Advocates of this proposal have been pushing for these kinds of money grabs for decades—and their arguments often run the same. The base is narrow, the lifespan is limited, the cause is sympathetic.
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For many, the OBBBA made tax filing easier and put more money back into their pockets. But it didn’t improve the grade for overall tax complexity for the US. It may actually make the situation worse.
By 2036, more than one out of every four dollars raised in total government revenue will go to pay interest on the debt.
Unlike the IEEPA tariffs, which were stopped by the Supreme Court, the new Sec. 122 tariffs require congressional authorization after 150 days.
The side-by-side agreement is an important step in trans-Atlantic economic relations, however, there is more work to be done—on both sides of the Atlantic. If there’s a downside to the side-by-side agreement, it’s the risk of locking in mediocre tax policy choices for the long run.
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The Trump administration has rightly shifted its focus from pursuing legislative changes to implementing new permanent rules. But in this shift, it’s crucial that the White House doesn’t lose focus on the larger task at hand.
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Due to the incentive for jurisdictions to implement a qualified domestic minimum top-up tax (QDMTT), Pillar Two leaves a geographic asymmetry. Additional tax revenues would predominantly accrue to low-tax jurisdictions, with high tax jurisdictions receiving little to no increase.
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New evidence shows the scale and distribution of compliance costs for EU firms affected by Pillar Two, i.e., the “Global Minimum Tax.”
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Instead of getting stuck in a reactionary posture, European countries should simply aim for competitiveness, and the EU can support that work with stronger, more stable trade relationships.
President Trump’s recent decision to replace the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics has the feeling of replacing the meteorologist and hoping you get better weather. But economic data affect government actions and could have surprising consequences. If nominee E.J. Antoni manipulates the statistics to make Mr. Trump look good, you could end up paying higher taxes.
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