CORPORATE-TAX HARMONIZATION AND COMPETITION IN FEDERAL COUNTRIES - SOME LESSONS FOR THE EUROPEAN-COMMUNITY

As the European Community dismantles impediments to the establishment and functioning of a single internal market, it will have to be prepar ed to confront a number of important tax policy problems associated wi th closer economic integration. This paper provides an overview of the main features of corporate income taxation in three federal countries : Canada, Switzerland, and the United States. Attention is focused on the evolution, design, and administration of these countries' subnatio nal corporation taxes, as well as on the alternative or similar ways i n which they have addressed such problems. Current tax practices in th ese three countries could be a harbinger of what may eventually be nec essary for the Community in a single internal market.