Experience in Tax Changes in Certain Central European Countries in the Past Two Decades

This study reviews the tax regimes of four Central European countries. A hundred years ago, these countries were part of a single economic and political unit, the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy (which included the entire territory of today’s Austria, Hungary, and Slovakia, and a significant part of Romania: Transylvania, Banat and Partium). Already then, different regions had different economic strengths, but their legal and cultural conditions were the same. By the end of the 20th century, despite their different historical development models, these four countries became once again part of a legal, economic and cultural entity, i.e. the system of the European Union, and then during the first decade of the 21st century, they became its full members. The tax changes implemented by these countries in the recent decades and their success in catching up with the level of welfare in the European Union are studied in this context.