In theory, one could assume that all that these countries had to do was to make copies of the tax laws of\u00a0some EU country and make them their own. This, however, would be missing completely what tax reform\u00a0is and how tax systems must be nested in the economy of a country. They must reflect the structural\u00a0characteristics of a country\u2019s economy if they are to be successful.<\/p>\n
The economies of the countries\u00a0discussed in this book have been undergoing fundamental changes. Some of theses changes are still taking\u00a0place. Thus, in some ways, their tax systems have been adapting themselves to moving targets. It is to be\u00a0expected that this process will continue for a few more years until the economies of these countries become\u00a0fully market oriented, with characteristics, structures, and institutions similar to those of the other European\u00a0countries.<\/p>\n
That this is not yet the case can be seen, in part, from the levels of their per capita incomes that\u00a0are still much lower than those of the group of countries that they are joining.\u00a0New Members have still to build an efficient\u00a0tax administration. Most of all, these European countries should be aware that from the Magna Carta era, in\u00a0the 13th century, a tax system is a foundation of any free democracy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This book deals with tax reform in New EU countries. It describes the changes that have occurred in the tax\u00a0systems of a group of countries that underwent a transformation, or a transition, from being centrally\u00a0planned to becoming market economies. This has been a remarkable journey that has required enormous\u00a0and difficult reforms.<\/p>\n
There was no road map for these countries to follow, because it was a journey on\u00a0 uncharted territory. No group of countries had ever traveled this territory before. However, there was the\u00a0advantage of knowing where to go, if not how to get there. The destination was the creation of tax systems\u00a0and tax administrations not too different from those of the EU countries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":9190,"template":"","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false},"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[10379],"product_tag":[10349,10328],"class_list":{"0":"post-9189","1":"product","2":"type-product","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"product_cat-altax-library-en","7":"product_tag-tax-reform","8":"product_tag-tax-system-en","10":"first","11":"instock","12":"sale","13":"downloadable","14":"virtual","15":"purchasable","16":"product-type-simple"},"yoast_head":"\n