30 July 2021

As the International Tax Competitiveness Index states, the structure of a country’s tax code is an important determinant of its economic performance. A well-structured tax code is easy for taxpayers to comply with and can promote economic development while raising sufficient revenue for a government’s priorities. In contrast, poorly structured tax systems can be costly, distort economic decision-making, and harm domestic economies.

In 2020, the European Dialogue of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation in Brussels and the EPICENTER Network carried out a competition to find new, innovative ideas, on how tax policy regimes across Europe can become more competitive and driven by key liberal values of efficiency, neutrality, and fairness.

On the following pages you will first meet our jurors and read a few welcoming statements on the current state and future development of tax competitiveness in Europe. After setting the scene, we will dive right into the four winning entries of this competition. We hope you will enjoy meeting Jamie Whyte (1st price), Prajwal Pandey (1st price), Nicolas Marques (2nd price), and Thomas Spencer (3rd price) and their innovative liberal ideas for tax competition in Europe and wish you a good read!