Axel Hilling

This article deals with political, histo- rical, and tax-policy issues in connection with the European Spallation Source (ESS) in Lund and other European Research Infrastructure Consortiums (ERICs). Various issues arise with regard to the organization and structure of large European research projects: in-kind contributi- ons; and worker mobility, with implications for attracting top international researchers to the countries hosting these projects. The focus of the article is on the issues surrounding income tax and value-added tax (VAT), as seen from a political per- spective. Various practical examples demonstrate obstacles for the optimal functioning of the cur- rent and future ESS, which probably reflect similar problems with other research projects, based on collaboration among countries. We conclude that many problems need to be solved at a tax-policy level in order to improve the conditions for large research projects and for the society to have maxi- mum benefit from investing in them.