Angela Merkel

International Tax Review is part of Legal Benchmarking Limited, 1-2 Paris Garden, London, SE1 8ND

Copyright © Legal Benchmarking Limited and its affiliated companies 2025

Accessibility | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Modern Slavery Statement

Angela Merkel

Chancellor, Germany

Angela Merkel

As one of the chief proponents of the financial transaction tax (FTT) and European tax harmonisation, Angela Merkel’s place on this list is assured. Certainly it would be difficult to imagine the FTT, an idea previously only ever entertained by radical economists and academics, gaining such momentum in the EU without the backing of Germany and its conservative Chancellor.

Returned to power this year in a new left-wing/right-wing coalition, Merkel now has a clear mandate to push forward with her plans to introduce an FTT alongside 10 other EU member states.

Merkel’s Germany is also a strong supporter of a common consolidated corporate tax base (CCCTB). While proposals for a CCCTB have somewhat sat on the back-burner in the last year, could Merkel’s re-election see them pushed forward?

Meanwhile Merkel joined her counterparts in France, Germany, Spain, Italy and the UK to lead calls for the EU-wide automatic exchange of banking data.

In so many ways, Germany is at the forefront of global tax reform, ensuring Merkel’s influence far beyond her country’s borders.

Further reading

Fools rush in where Angela should fear to tread

EU: Harmony or discord?


The Global Tax 50 2013

« Previous

Alan McLean

View the complete list

Next »

Oscar Molina

more across site & shared bottom lb ros

More from across our site

The threat of 50% tariffs on Brazilian goods coincides with new Brazilian legal powers to adopt retaliatory economic measures, local experts tell ITR
The country’s chancellor appears to have backtracked from previous pillar two scepticism; in other news, Donald Trump threatened Russia with 100% tariffs
In its latest G20 update, the OECD also revealed tense discussions with the US where the ‘significant threat’ of Section 899 was highlighted
The tax agency has increased compliance yield from wealthy individuals but cannot identify how much tax is paid by UK billionaires, the committee also claimed
Saffery cautioned that documentation requirements in new government proposals must be limited if medium-sized companies are not exempted from TP
The global minimum tax deal is not viable without US participation, Friedrich Merz has argued
Section 899 of the ‘one big beautiful’ bill would have spelled disaster for many international investors into the US, but following its shelving, attention turns to the fate of the OECD’s pillars
DLA Piper’s co-head of tax for the US and Latin America tells ITR about her fervent belief in equal access to the law, loving yoga, and paternal inspirations
Tax expert Craig Hillier agrees with the comparison of pillar two to using a sledgehammer to crack a nut
The amount is reported to be up 57% from the £5.6bn that the UK tax agency believes was underpaid in the previous year
Gift this article