Tax Harmonization Versus Fiscal Competition

Recent years have brought into discussion once again subjects like tax harmonization and fiscal competition. Every time the European Union tends to take a step forward critics enter the scene and give contrary arguments to European integration. Through this article we have offered our readers a compelling view over the “battle” between tax harmonization and fiscal competition. While tax harmonization has key advantages as less costs regarding public revenues, leads to higher degree of integration and allows the usage of fiscal transfers between regions, fiscal competition is no less and presents key advantages as high reductions in tax rates and opens a large path for new investments, especially FDI. Choosing tax harmonization or fiscal competition depends on a multitude of variables, of circumstances, the decision of choosing one path or the other being ultimately influenced by the view of central and local authorities. Our analysis indicates that if we refer to a group of countries that are a part of a monetary union or that form a federation, tax harmonization seems to be the best path to choose. Moving the analysis to a group of regions that aren’t taking any kind of correlated actions or that have not signed any major treaties regarding monetary or fiscal policies, the optimal solution is fiscal competition.