The development of corporate tax structures in the European Union from 1998 to 2015 - Qualitative and quantitative analysis

Rainer Bräutigam, Christoph Spengel and Kathrin Stutzenberger

No 17-034, ZEW Discussion Papers from ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research

Abstract: Ongoing tax reform processes, competitive pressures and the consequences of the financial and sovereign debt crisis have considerably shaped the tax systems of the Member States of the European Union in the last two decades. Our paper combines a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the development of European tax structures based on a unique and comprehensive dataset for the EU-25 Member States between 1998 and 2015. Especially among the EU-15 Member States, we still find evidence for the often-cited trend of tax rate cut cum tax base broadening. In this context, we identify interest deduction limitation rules and loss provisions as main drivers of tax base broadening. Furthermore, the quantitative analysis of effective tax burden scenarios shows that Member States seem to additionally rely on an increased taxation of dividends to balance possible revenue losses associated with reduced corporate income tax rates.

Keywords: Tax Policy; Corporate Taxation; European Union (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H20 H25 K34 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-acc, nep-eur, nep-law, nep-pbe and nep-pub
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:zewdip:17034

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