HARMONIZATION OF PERSONAL INCOME TAXATION: IS IT POSSIBLE AND IF SO, DOES IT MAKE ECONOMIC SENSE?
HARMONIZATION OF PERSONAL INCOME TAXATION: IS IT POSSIBLE AND IF SO, DOES IT MAKE ECONOMIC SENSE?

Summary/Abstract: The main research question is based on the thesis that harmonization of personal income taxation in the European Union is, on the one hand, not possible and, on the other hand, not advisable Harmonization of income taxes is much more difficult than harmonization of indirect taxes from the practical, technical and legal perspective and is a result of: (a) when creating the Treaty of Rome it was decided that direct taxes would not have a notable impact on the operations of the internal market, and that approach led to a lack of appropriate regulations, especially in the area of personal income taxes; (b) income taxes, as forms of direct taxation are an important tool for fiscal policy that affects social and economic activities and it is difficult for politicians to abandon this tool for managing national policies; (c) directives requiring the formulation of direct tax harmonization must be agreed upon with a majority vote in the national Assemblies (Parliaments), which leads to a lack of consensus on desired aims, costs and benefits, procedures; (d) progress in direct tax harmonization creates an aura of challenges to the tax independence if nations and leads to entrenchment of state and elite positions; (e) EU States Mmember states have different rules for remunerating employees, setting incomes from retirement funds and affecting the structure of income-generating costs and expenditures that reduce the tax base.

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