Corporate Tax as an Instrument of Tax Competition Among the EU Countries

Abstract

Recent public debate concerns about tax competition in the European Union. There is a widespread belief that reducing the rate of corporation tax will increase foreign investments (small economy) or reduce capital outflow (large economy). This paper examines changes to the corporate income tax as a tool of tax competition among countries of the European Union, especially against the background of the prevailing tendency to harmonize the tax systems of the EU Member States. It cannot be a straightforward way to assess tax competition only through the prism of tax rates as a phenomenon of positive or negative. Also, the analysis tends to the conclusion that for entrepreneurs it is important not only to the level of tax rates.