Professor Philip Lane:

The OECD has said that, sooner rather than later, there has to be an answer. As digital activities can be allocated across jurisdictions, there needs to be an international answer. We have to learn to live with that. It is no surprise that there is a range of views in Europe. There are those who believe it is imperative that tax rate decisions remain a national decision. Then there are those who would prefer to move towards a more harmonised and consolidated tax base. That is essentially a political judgment. Central bankers do not overly discuss tax issues. We recognise the distance between what is the responsibility of political systems, which is tax, and what is our responsibility, which is the financial system.

This issue is really high up on the global agenda and the ideal forum for dealing with it is the OECD. We will have to see what it comes up with but it may lead to a revision of what happens here.