This paper discusses the impact and the appropriateness of tax incentives for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the European Union. First, we provide a survey of implemented tax incentives specifically targeted at SMEs in the 28 EU Member States. Building hereon, we measure the impact...

Ongoing tax reform processes, competitive pressures and the consequences of the financial and sovereign debt crisis have considerably shaped the tax systems of the Member States of the European Union in the last two decades. Our paper combines a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the...

Die Forscher des ZEW Mannheim rund um Professor Christoph Spengel kommen zu folgendem Ergebnis: Der Steuerwettbewerb hat sich abgeschwächt. Bestimmte Instrumente gegen die Gewinnverlagerung wirken. Das führt aber bisher nicht zu einer Angleichung der Steuersätze auf niedrigerem Niveau.

Corporate tax levels have fallen substantially in Europe during the last decades. A broad literature has identified tax competition as one reason for this decline in corporate tax levels. However, none of these studies explicitly asks the question whether tax competition within regions is...