The growing economic inequality around the world is recognized as a global problem of mankind. At the same time, the key tool for reducing inequality and ensuring the achievement of sustainable development goals is the taxation system given its distributive function. That is why this paper puts forward and proves a scientific hypothesis according to which direct taxation has a significant impact on economic inequality, with its scale and sphere depending on the level of economic development and the specific architecture of the tax system adopted in a particular country. The study relies on data from 28 European Union countries, including the United Kingdom, whose tax systems are not identical but harmonized in accordance with European Union directives, the same as the legislation in other economic sectors. Accordingly, it can be concluded that similar institutional characteristics are present. We have used the method of two-stage cluster analysis, which is meant for identifying the natural splitting of the mass of data into groups, then carried out regression analysis and built some models. The contribution of the study is revealing a number of important regularities that are significant for characterizing the dependence of income inequality on direct taxation as well as formulation recommendations for improving the tax policies of European Union countries, with the potential of policy implications. The results obtained can play a significant role in the development and further harmonization of tax systems and resolving the global problem of increased inequality within and between countries.

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Subject. The article discusses the role of the budgetary system in the EU countries in financing the environmental policy of States. We analyze the volume and structure of environmental taxes and national budgetary spending on environmental protection, and their equilibrium. Objectives. We trace modern trends in the environmental portion of the EU countries’ budgets and substantiate thresholds of budgetary revenue and expenditures with respect to the environment in the Russian Federation. Methods. The study is based on general, economic-statistical methods and methods of economic analysis of trend series. Results. Having analyzed ecotaxes and budgetary spending on environmental protection in 2010–2019, we traced the stabilizing tendency of the budgetary contribution to finance of the environmental policy in 27 EU countries in terms of income and expenditures for environmental protection, the differentiation of the above indicators across the EU countries. In the EU countries, local authorities are obviously in charge of financing environmental protection costs, maintaining the surplus of the environmental portion of national budgets. We measured the mean value of environmental taxes and national budget spending in environmental protection in 27 EU countries. Conclusions and Relevance. As the EU actively promotes sustainable development values, respective budgetary systems continue to make more or less the same contribution throughout 2010–2019, according to aggregate data of 27 EU countries. However, the contribution significantly differs as per data of certain EU countries. Assessing the adequacy and balance of the environmental portion of the Russian consolidated budget, mean values of the EU data can be used to substantiate thresholds of the indicators.