Hi °C | Lo °C The European Commission was warned to leave tax-raising to the Chancellor of the Exchequer after Brussels suggested new ways of financing the EU budget.
An "options paper" to be unveiled by the Commission sets out alternatives for a direct tax on EU citizens for the first time to help fund the £108bn-a-year cost of running euro policies.
They include diverting a share of national taxes such as carbon or aviation tax or VAT directly to Brussels - an idea hatched by the Commission months ago not just to top up EU coffers but also, said officials, as a way of making citizens feel directly involved.
But Conservative Leader in the European Parliament Timothy Kirkhope MEP, warned the EU Budgets Commissioner Janusz Lewandowski to "go back to the drawing board" with his plans.
"EU taxes would fundamentally shift the relationship between Brussels and London," said Mr Kirkhope.
"Governments of sovereign nations raise taxes and they must have a final say over how much they will hand over to other organisations, such as the EU."
Mr Lewandowski is also in favour of scrapping Britain's rebate on its annual EU contributions, arguing that the justification has disappeared since the deal was won by Margaret Thatcher.
But the Government insists that without the rebate, the UK's net contribution as a percentage of national income would be twice as big as France, and one-and-a-half times as big as Germany, because of continuing spending distortions caused largely by the Common Agricultural Policy which still accounts for more than 40% of the EU budget.
The rebate is worth £3.1bn this year and will have saved the Treasury about £26bn between 2007 and 2013 when the current EU budget cycle ends.
Mr Kirkhope said: "Commissioner Lewandowski clearly is not getting the message on the British rebate: keep your hands off. Our rebate is there for a reason and it is fully justified. We cannot see the EU chip off another section of the rebate like it did in 2005."
