With the advent of the economic and monetary union in the European Union (EU), the economic landscape of the EU will bear a striking resemblance to that of the United States in terms of fundamental attributes such as the freedom of internal movements of individuals, capital, and goods within the union, as well as the adoption of a common currency. This paper examines developments in the tax systems of the states in the United States and draws lessons for the need of coordination of EU tax systems.

With the advent of the economic and monetary union in the European Union (EU), the economic landscape of the EU will bear a striking resemblance to that of the United States in terms of fundamental attributes such as the freedom of internal movements of individuals, capital, and goods within the union, as well as the adoption of a common currency. This paper examines developments in the tax systems of the states in the United States and draws lessons for the need of coordination of EU tax systems.

This paper examines the interest spending and taxation channels through which EMU could affect the public finances. It provides a framework for examining different views on a further narrowing of interest rate differentials. A model of Blanchard and Fischer is amended to analyze the two channels, and empirical evidence on the tax harmonization process is presented. The paper argues that “high-debt” and “high-tax” countries pursuing prudent fiscal policies could benefit the most from EMU: if monetary and widespread fiscal discipline are jointly established, interest rates could decline rapidly, while tax harmonization is likely to be gradual.

We review the current state of the West African Economic and Monetary Union’s tax coordination framework, against the main objectives of the WAEMU Treaty of 1994: reduce distortions to intra-community trade, and mobilize domestic tax revenue. The process of tax coordination in WAEMU is one of the most advanced in the world—de jure at least—, but remains in many areas ineffective de facto. Nevertheless, the framework has, to some extent, succeeded in converging tax systems, particularly statutory tax rates, and may have contributed to improving revenue mobilisation. Important lessons can be drawn from the WAEMU experience, particularly in terms of whether coordination should take the form of harmonization through a top-down approach, or a softer approach of sharing best practice and limiting certain types of tax competition.

The European Community is negotiating a new treaty to establish the constitutional foundations of an economic and monetary union in the course of the 1990s. This study provides the only comprehensive guide to the economic implications of economic and monetary union. The work of an economist inside the Commission of the European Community, it reflects the considerations influencing the design of the union. The study creates a unique bridge between the insights of modern economic analysis and the work of the policy makers preparing for economic and monetary union.

Seminar paper from the year 2008 in the subject Politics - International Politics - Topic: European Union, grade: 1,3, University of Hamburg (Master of Arts European Studies), course: The European Economic and Monetary Union: challenges and perspectives, language: English, abstract: While the economic integration of the EU is already on an advanced level due to the establishment of the Single Market and the European Monetary Union (EMU), it can be stated that some significant fields are lagging behind. Amongst others, the harmonisation of indirect taxes within the EU is a controversial topic (Genschel 2002: 16, Randzio-Plath 1999: 665). Any fiscal harmonisation hardly alludes to the funding basis of the public budget of the several MS. In the range of indirect taxes, value added tax (VAT), which is especially problematic for allocation politics, is already harmonised on a high level, while at the same time other excise duties were harmonised only hesitantly. The aim of this paper is to examine the question of whether there is more harmonisation than competition in the field of indirect taxation in the EU. In general, the paper will deal with the question of what fiscal harmonisation actually is and which consequences can arise from a situation of competition for the government.

This paper presents a methodology to analyse some of the possible fiscal effects of the EMU. It uses a theoretical tool, the "fiscal sustainability frontiers", and a new fiscal sustainability index. The paper argues that in the EMU the fiscal autonomy will be tightened by the "endogenous fiscal discipline" stemming from the harmonization of tax systems, the loss of current and prospective money financing, and the deepening of financial market-based discipline.