Tax Discrimination and the Goal of a Common Market in the United States and the European Union: Why the European Union Does Not Need a Federation to Provide Protection for Individual Taxpayers

Abstract: The United States and the European Union operate under the similar design of a federal structure and their labor markets face similar tax discrimination challenges. Case law illustrates how the goal of a common market present in both unions is highly influential on the respective Courts and provides a flexible structure to protect individuals against discriminatory tax legislation. It is the central thesis of this paper that while the tax discrimination jurisprudence of each union is shaped by the goal of a common market, taxpayers in the European Union have benefited from the explicit wording of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union the European Union (TFEU). Because of the additional protections for individual taxpayers in the TFEU, the European Union is able to provide prudent and evolving safeguards that exceed the protection ensured under the United States Constitution despite not being a true federation. Consequently, the European Court of Justice does not need a federation to protect against tax discrimination.