Taxation in Europe: recent developments

This Study updates three earlier papers in the Economic Affairs Series: Tax Competition in the European Union (ECON 105, October 1998); Tax Co-ordination in the European Union (ECON 125, January 2001); and Tax Co-ordination in the EU: the latest position (ECON 128, March 2002). The text does not repeat material already covered in the previous publications, but analyses recent developments in a number of taxation fields: corporate taxation, the taxation of energy, the continuing negotiations on the 'Monti Package', the taxation of motor vehicles, possible new proposals on the taxation of wine and the wider international context, including the work of OECD to tackled 'tax havens' and EU/US disputes over taxation. In addition, a new section provides a detailed survey of how the main taxes are levied in the thirteen candidate countries, and examines the possible effects of enlargement on taxation in the European Union itself.