Most Germans would probably welcome lower taxes. But Gerhard Schröder is preaching against it. For months now, the Chancellor has taken every opportunity to admonish his new E.U. neighbors to the east for their low tax rates. In Schröder's eyes, they are freeloaders, taking E.U. aid to build up their economies while stealing business from nations like his. "It is certainly unreasonable that we finance an unbridled tax competition among each other via the budget of the European Union," he said in Poland on May 26. Germany is expected to press its case again in September at a meeting of E.U....
