This book provides a comprehensive analysis of tax systems and tax reforms in European countries. It discusses the determinants of the current structure of tax systems and analyses the prospects of reforms. The analysis is supported by a complete picture of the tax systems of seven European countries: France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Spain and United Kingdom. On the basis of the country studies, the book identifies and analyses the main common forces which drive the recent or planned fiscal reforms, like globalization, the European unification, fiscal federalism, the need to design a more fair and simplified tax system. Budgetary as well as political constraints to the feasibility of "radical" tax reforms are also analyzed.