The Impact of European Union Law on Regional Autonomy in Business and Value Added Taxation

Abstract

Despite the relevance of the sub-central level of government in the provision of public services, its capacity to legislate on tax matters is usually very modest, especially with regards to the value added and corporation taxes. This article analyses the limitations to regional tax autonomy imposed by European Union law and, in this framework, reviews the main options for greater decentralisation taking into account the experience of several federal countries and the economic advantages and risks that such measures could entail. In my opinion, before offering sub-central parliaments the possibility to participate in the regulation of the value added and corporation taxes, it would be advisable to explore other less problematic alternatives, such as the transfer to the regions of regulatory powers on other taxes with a direct impact on businesses, such as trade or business taxes, taxes on the real property of corporations or taxes on the value added of businesses. This article focuses first on business taxation and, after that, on the value added tax.

Keywords

• Fiscal decentralization;
• Tax autonomy;
• European integration
• Corporation tax
• Value added tax