French-Dutch Effort to Curb Tax-Driven Wealth Moves Falls Flat

A joint Dutch-French initiative to develop rules against wealthy individuals moving residence for tax purposes failed to garner support among EU countries, according to people familiar with the matter.

Country representatives in a meeting Tuesday rebuffed a proposal that would have tasked the European Commission with studying which tax regimes, whether within the EU or without, were prompting wealthy people to change their residence.

While tax competition is technically allowed within the bloc, the countries warned in a September paper that such regimes “could lead to a race to the bottom and harm solidarity within the EU.”