TAX POLICY CONVERGENCE IN EU: AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS

Résumé 0

"This paper examines the tax policy convergence in the EU-15 during the period 1965-2005 using a time series approach. The main purpose is to assess the convergence of the main components of tax revenue -income and profits, social security contributions, property, general taxes on goods and services, taxes on specific goods and services- taking as referencesGermany, the United Kingdom and the European average. The analysis is carried out from two complementary perspectives: the tax burden and the tax structure. Using unit roots and stationarity tests with a structural change, and also analyzing ¿-convergence, the results show little evidence of tax convergence. Convergence appears with similar intensity with respect to the three benchmarks, and in the years previous to the structural break which, in general, was situated endogenously at the end of the 1980s or at the beginning of the 1990s. Moreover, tax convergence is basically centred on income and profits, and goods and services taxation. The empirical evidence shows that the autonomy of the countries, their different economic structures and political preferences regarding the degree of public intervention, prevail over the idea of fiscal equalization in the EU."