ECJ - Recent Developments in Value Added Tax

S. 224I. Introduction

The CJEU cases considered by Professor van Doesum in the previous chapter deal with issues that have a universal significance for all modern value added taxes. It is, therefore, perhaps fitting that the comments in this chapter are made from an outsider’s perspective. It is hoped that the outsider focus, which includes both comparative analysis (‘How does Australia deal with the particular issues raised?’) and evaluation (‘What is the right way for a VAT law deal with such issues?’), can contribute something useful both to the discourse on EU VAT law and to the wider discourse on the key design features of value added taxes. The unifying element in the eleven cases considered by Van Doesum is the principle of fiscal neutrality. In the EU context, that principle has a range of meanings, each of which has its origin in the fact that that the principle of fiscal neutrality is the VAT embodiment of the principle of equal treatment. A more generic and universal concept of the principle is expressed in the OECD’s Neutrality Guidelines, which state: