Is there evidence of tax convergence in the European Union?

Fiscal convergence has been and still is one of the main long term objectives of the European Union. However, between the effects of the global financial crisis and the addition of several new Member States over the last decade, the issue arises of whether this objective is still achievable. This study focuses on finding evidence of tax convergence between the 28 Member States of the European Union using the fiscal pressure to quantify the level of taxation. The research results are based on sigma-convergence analysis using the coefficient of variation and the Gini index, with data for the period between 1965 and 2012. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.