Tax Harmonization and Competition in the European Union

This paper presents a comprehensive review and analysis of tax harmonization and tax competition in the European Union. It is shown that while tax burdens in the European Union have increased substantially in the past 35 years, they did not converge. Also, there is no evidence of the 'race to the bottom' in taxing income from capital. However, small European Union country members tend to set lower effective tax rates than larger member countries. There is also a trend to abolish imputation systems in favour of a schedular tax on distributed profits