EU Confident in Ability to Hit Back if U.K. Tax Standards Drop

The European Union will continue to monitor for aggressive tax competition from the U.K., although there are likely enough safeguards in an existing trade agreement, speakers at a European Parliament hearing said.

The European Commission, the EU’s executive, will remain “extremely vigilant” in case the U.K. decides to become a low-tax “Singapore-on-Thames,” said Benjamin Angel, the commission’s director for direct taxation, speaking at the hearing organized by the parliament’s tax subcommittee Tuesday. A former U.K. finance minister said in 2017 that the U.K. might pursue a low-tax strategy, but this was now seen as “political rhetoric,” Angel said.

The ...