Commodity Tax Harmonization in the European Community

1 The Policy Setting.- 1.1 Basic Concepts of International Taxation.- 1.2 The Harmonization Process in the EC.- 1.3 Feasible International Tax Principles.- 2 Theoretical Aspects.- 2.1 Introduction: Domestic Taxes and Foreign Trade.- 2.2 Trade Distortions vs. Domestic Efficiency.- 2.3 Fiscal vs. Political Externalities.- 2.4 Optimal Taxation vs. Tax Reform Analysis.- 2.5 Application to EC Policy Issues.- 3 A Dual General Equilibrium Framework.- 3.1 The Trade Model and its Assumptions.- 3.2 Dual Functions and their Properties.- 3.3 Introducing General Commodity Taxes.- 3.4 General Tax Principles.- 4 Restricted Destination Principle.- 4.1 The Two-Country Model.- 4.2 Tax Reform and Terms of Trade Changes.- 4.3 Introducing Changes in the Tax Base.- 4.4 Global Welfare Effects of Tax Reform.- 5 Restricted Origin Principle.- 5.1 The Three-Country Model.- 5.2 Tax Reform in the Small-Union Case.- 5.3 Tax Reform with Endogenous World Prices.- 5.4 Supplement: Trade Deflection.- 5.5 Summary: The Limitations of Theoretical Analysis.- 6 Alternative Tax Principles: A Numerical Comparison.- 6.1 The Empirical Model.- 6.2 The Data Base.- 6.3 Simulation Results for Homogeneous Goods.- 6.4 Extending the Model: Differentiated Goods.- 6.5 A Second-Best Tax Principle for the EC.- 7 Tax Rate Harmonization.- 7.1 Public Goods in the Dual Framework.- 7.2 Heterogeneous Preferences for Public Goods.- 7.3 Tax Competition and Public Good Supply.- 7.4 Optimal Tax Rate Harmonization in the EC.- 8 Summary and Outlook.- 8.1 Summary: Evaluating the Policy Choices.- 8.2 Outlook: International Capital Movements.- Appendix 189.- Appendix A: Derivation of Selected Equations.- Appendix B: MPS/GE Simulation Results.- Appendix C: List of Symbols Used.