MEPS SPURN ENERGY TAX REPORT.

Meeting in plenary session in Strasbourg, the European Parliament decided to refer an energy tax report back to the Committee stage. Presented by Patrick Cox (ELDR, Ireland), the report on a proposal for an energy tax was rejected by 239 votes to 215 with 10 abstentions. Tabled on March 12, 1997, the proposal envisaged the introduction of minimum tax rates for energy in two steps: the first starting in 1998, and the second, with higher tax rates, as of 2000. Adopted on January 20 by the European Parliament's Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and Industrial Policy, the Cox report judged the proposal tax to be "over-complicated". Mr Cox argued for a more comprehensive tax base, fully embodying the polluter-pays principle and the need to scrap most of the numerous exemptions proposed by the...