The Commission has started a debate on reforming decision-making for areas of EU taxation policy, which currently requires unanimity among Member States. Unanimity often cannot be achieved on crucial tax initiatives and can therefore lead to costly delays and sub-optimal policies. The Communication published on 15 January suggests a roadmap for a transition to qualified majority voting (QMV) under the ordinary legislative procedure in certain areas of shared EU taxation policy. Such QMV is already applied in most other EU policy areas and is envisaged by the EU Treaties. Under QMV, Member States would be able to reach more democratic compromises on taxation matters more quickly and effectively. Also, under the ordinary legislative procedure, taxation decisions would benefit from concrete input from the European Parliament, thus better representing citizens' views and increasing accountability. The Commission is not proposing any change in EU competences in the field of taxation, or to the rights of Member States to set personal or corporate tax rates as they see fit.