When a dozen new countries joined the European Union in the mid-2000s, political tensions spiked over disparities in corporate income tax rates. Since the time of enlargement, leaders have tried repeatedly to enhance corporate tax coordination within the EU, as a result of fears of downward pressure on corporate tax rates and states’ weakening ability to collect revenues. At the same time, leaders from new member states in Eastern Europe with low corporate tax rates have contended that regional efforts to coordinate tax policies are not worthwhile, given that corporate tax competition is a global phenomenon. This article argues that corporate tax competition is more acute at the regional than the global level. While corporate tax rates are falling inside and outside the EU, we demonstrate using a large multiyear, multiregional data set that Eastern European countries have extremely low corporate tax rates relative to other EU and non-EU countries, even when controlling for multiple domestic economic and political factors. These findings support the potential efficacy of pursuing regional corporate tax reform to address the downward spiraling of rates in the EU.

中文翻译：

---

东欧是否会因欧洲公司税下降而受到谴责？

2000年代中期，当十几个新国家加入欧盟时，由于企业所得税税率差异而引起的政治紧张局势激增。自扩大以来，由于担心公司税率面临下行压力以及各州征收税收的能力减弱，领导人多次试图加强欧盟内部的公司税协调。同时，来自东欧公司税率较低的新成员国的领导人争辩说，鉴于公司税竞争是一种全球现象，因此没有必要采取区域性措施来协调税收政策。本文认为，公司税收竞争在区域层面比全球层面更为激烈。尽管公司税率在欧盟内部和外部均处于下降状态，但我们证明使用了多年的 多区域数据显示，即使控制多种国内经济和政治因素，东欧国家相对于其他欧盟和非欧盟国家而言，公司税率也极低。这些发现支持进行区域公司税制改革以解决欧盟税率下降的潜在效力。