Whither or Wither the European Union Savings Tax Directive? – A Case Study in the Political Economy of Taxation

Abstract

One of the more contentious issues within the European Union (EU) in recent years has been how Member States should organise their taxation infrastructures. The European Union Savings Tax Directive (EUSTD) was one of a series of initiatives with an EU-wide focus on taxation since the issue of global taxation within the EU first was crystallised in a specific form by the European Commission (EC) in 1996. The struggles and disagreement that have plagued these various initiatives since 1996 raise interesting issues of legitimacy, equity and political economy of taxation that are the focus of this paper

Keywords: European Union, taxation, political economy, legitimacy

JEL Classification: G18, G38, H26, K34, K42