Martin McEwen, Head of Tax, SSE plc

I had a rather interesting conversation with an in-house tax manager at a client this morning, who was expressing great concern about the scope of these provisions and the consequence of the penalty.

Appearing: Tony Valeri, M.P., Parliamentary Secretary for the Minister of Finance. Witnesses: From the Department of Finance: Bruce Rayfuse, Senior Chief, International Finance and Economic Analysis Division; Yvon Carrière, Counsel, Tax Counsel Division; Stephen Gagnon, Senior Tax Policy Officer, Intergovernmental Tax Policy Division, Tax Policy Branch; Andrew Treusch, General Director, Federal-Provincial Relations and Social Policy Branch; David Moloney, General Director, Economic and Fiscal Policy Branch; Ted Roseman, Senior Po ...[+++]licy Analyst, Social Policy Division; John Manson, Senior Policy Analyst, Social Policy Division; Keith Horner, Senior Chief, Social Tax Policy; Bill Murphy, Tax Policy Officer, Personal Income Tax Division, Tax Policy Branch; Ed Waddington, Senior Policy Analyst, Economic Development and Corporate Finance; Kristina Knopp, Legal Counsel, Brian Willis, Senior Chief, Sales Tax Division Tax Policy Branch, Doug Wyatt, General Counsel.

Welcome. Representing the Department of Finance, we have Mr. Douglas Nevison, economic and fiscal policy branch; Mr. Frank Des Rosiers, general director of analysis, tax policy branch; and Mr. Brian Pagan, director, fiscal policy, director's office.

The Committee, which will be chaired by Mr Onno Ruding, former Dutch Minister of Finance and current Chairman of the Dutch Christian Federation of Employers, is made up of the following persons, who are known for their business skills and for their expertise in the field of company taxation: Mr Jean-Louis Descours Chairman of the "André" Group, France Mr Lorenzo Gascon Vice-Chairman of the Group "La Seda de Barcelona SA", Spain Mr Carlo Gatto Managing Director of the "FIAT" Group, Italy Mr Albert J. Raedler Professor at the University of Hamburg, Germany Mr P. William Robinson Director of the Institute for ...[+++]Fiscal Studies, United Kingdom Mr Frans Vanistendael Professor at the University of Leuven, Belgium Mr Donal de Buitleir A.I.B, Head of Group Taxation, Bank Centre, Ballsbridge, Dublin The Committee will have the task of submitting in one year's time a report dealing with the impact of taxation on company behaviour and with the risks of distortion of competition or of business relocation that may arise from the co-existence of differing tax policies within the single market.

The meeting, which was held in the context of the completion of the internal market, examined for the first time ways of working together to implement by 1 January 1993 the tax measures contained in the internal market programme.