TAX COMPETITION VERSUS TAX COORDINATION IN THE EUROPEAN UNION

This paper examines the tax competition literature and attempts to draw out its implications for the debate on corporate tax coordination within the EU. Although corporate tax coordination, including tax rate harmonization, has been the subject of intense discussion in the European Union (EU) for many years, EU member states, for the most part, still operate independent and highly varied corporate income tax systems. Interest in tax coordination has increased recently, however, prompted in part by fears that tax competition among the increasingly economically integrated EU nations will over time significantly reduce the level of capital income taxation.