Who's Afraid of an EU Tax and Why? - Revenue System Preferences in the European Parliament
42 Pages Posted: 9 May 2008 Last revised: 14 Aug 2008
Abstract
The EU's revenue system is still typical for an organisation based on international cooperation and stands in contrast to the Union's far advanced legislative and political role. This contrast feeds the debate on granting the EU an autonomous tax source. Our contribution explores the factors which shape the acceptance of the EU tax option among European policy makers. We make use of a unique database: A survey among Members of the European Parliament (MEP) which resulted in a response of some 150 of the representatives. Our results confirm an important role for party ideology and individual characteristics but they also demonstrate that country-specific factors are important to understand the support for an EU tax. In the light of our findings the status quo bias in the EU's revenue system can be attributed to the persistent importance of national interests with respect to fiscal burden sharing and tax policy.
Keywords: European Parliament, EU tax, revenue system
JEL Classification: D78, H29, H87
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?
Recommended Papers
-
What Does the Public Know About Economic Policy, and How Does it Know it?
By Alan S. Blinder and Alan B. Krueger
-
What Does the Public Know About Economic Policy, and How Does it Know it?
By Alan S. Blinder and Alan B. Krueger
-
Does Information Increase Political Support for Pension Reform?
By Tito Boeri and Guido Tabellini
-
Disagreement among Forecasters in G7 Countries
By Jonas Dovern, Ulrich Fritsche, ...
-
Information Rigidity and the Expectations Formation Process: A Simple Framework and New Facts
-
Projecting Pension Expenditure in Spain: On Uncertainty, Communication and Transparency
By Rafael Doménech and Ángel Melguizo