Tax Competition – Beneficial or Harmful? How Various Tax Measures Affect the Allocation of Resources?

Abstract

Fiscal competition has been in the news ever since the OECD launched a campaign against “harmful tax competition” in 1996. Nor is it likely to disappear any time soon. Instead, it is likely to intensify, as more and more governments resort to lower taxes to stimulate their economies. Is all tax competition harmful, or is it possible to distinguish between harmful and beneficial tax competition? In this paper, in its first part, I try to present the difference between benefit and harmful tax competition. Also, the paper try to establish how really is tax competition – “harmful” or “beneficial”. The second parts of this paper analyze the impact and efficiency of different tax measures in allocation of public resources.