Europe’s New Border Taxes
研究了欧盟1993年取消内部边境管制后，增值税和统计要求带来的合规成本平均占荷兰企业欧盟内部贸易额的5%，并分析这些成本对贸易的影响及是否违反欧盟条约。
Instead of abolishing internal border controls in 1993, the European Union (EU) replaced them with VAT and statistical requirements that appear to be just as onerous. For Dutch businesses, the compliance costs of the new requirements are, on average, 5 per cent of the value of their intra‐EU trade. The figure is probably higher for other EU Member States. Obviously, the costs constitute a (differentiated) border tax that impedes intra‐EU trade. The article analyses the determinants of the compliance costs, as well as their effect on intra‐EU trade intensity. The article submits that the differential compliance costs violate the non‐discrimination provisions of the EC Treaty. Suggestions are made to reduce them.