EU-15 Countries, New Member States and Harmonization of Corporate Income Tax

The idea of common corporate income tax (CIT) in EU gains even more attendance. However, there are several features of particular EU countries, which make the benefits of EU-wide harmonization dubious and its effects could be unequally distributed. Among these features are inter alia: (i) requirement for capital, (ii) size of the economies, (iii) differences in labor taxation, (iv) set of public goods available to taxpayers, (v) agglomeration externalities, (vi) richness of societies and (vii) tax culture including tax morale. The differences within the EU are particularly visible taking into consideration two groups of countries i.e. the Old EU and New Member States. Based on some approximation of the economies of EU-15 and EU-12 countries, the article shows the obstacles for future CIT harmonization.