Introduction

Abstract

Little scholarly research has been undertaken in recent years on tax harmonization issues in the European Community (EC). Although the EC Commission in Brussels labors hard to obtain agreement and implement the tax objectives of the Treaty of Rome, the academic world has left the field largely unworked since Professor Carl Shoup, member of the famous Neumark Committee, edited two volumes on Fiscal Harmonization in Common Markets nearly twenty years ago. Therefore, a fresh look at what has been achieved and especially at what is still required to meet the Treaty’s ultimate objectives seems desirable. For that purpose, a conference was held on August 22–24, 1985 at Erasmus University Rotterdam under the auspices of its Economics Faculty and the International Seminar in Public Economics. A major objective of the organizers was to bring together leading overseas specialists with EC economists and lawyers to further public and academic discussion of basic tax coordination issues through publication of the conference papers. This introduction explains the workings and objectives of the Community and summarizes the papers and discussions of the conference.