The Value Added Tax and Growth: Design Matters


Book Description

Does the design of a tax matter for growth? Assembling a novel dataset for 30 OECD countries over the 1970-2016 period, this paper examines whether the value added tax (VAT) may have different effects on long-run growth depending on whether it is raised through the standard rate or through C-efficiency (a measure of the departure of the VAT from a perfectly enforced tax levied at a single rate on all consumption). Our key findings are twofold. First, for a given total tax revenue, a rise in the VAT, financed by a fall in income taxes, promotes growth only when the VAT is raised through C-efficiency. Second, for a given VAT revenue, a rise in Cefficiency, offset by a fall in the standard rate, also promotes growth. The implication is thus that in OECD countries broadening the VAT base through fewer reduced rates and exemptions is more conducive to higher long-run growth than a rise in the standard rate.




Determinants of Value-Added Tax Revenue


Book Description

Empirical analysis of value- added tax revenues on a sample of 34 countries conforms with conventional wisdom from theoretical and case studies. The key implication is that for value- added tax to provide superior revenues, it should be levied in a single rate on as broad a base as possible. And tax administration and enforcement must be tough to ensure compliance.




Estimating VAT Pass Through


Book Description

This paper estimates the pass through of VAT changes to consumer prices, using a unique dataset providing disaggregated, monthly data on prices and VAT rates for 17 Eurozone countries over 1999-2013. Pass through is much less than full on average, and differs markedly across types of VAT change. For changes in the standard rate, for instance, final pass through is about 100 percent; for reduced rates it is significantly less, at around 30 percent; and for reclassifications it is essentially zero. We also find: differing dynamics of pass through for durables and non-durables; no significant difference in pass through between rate increases and decreases; signs of non-monotonicity in the relationship between pass through and the breadth of the consumption base affected; and indications of significant anticipation effects together with some evidence of lagged effects in the two years around reform. The results are robust against endogeneity and attenuation bias.




How to Manage Value-Added Tax Refunds


Book Description

The value-added tax (VAT) has the potential to generate significant government revenue. Despite its intrinsic self-enforcement capacity, many tax administrations find it challenging to refund excess input credits, which is critical to a well-functioning VAT system. Improperly functioning VAT refund practices can have profound implications for fiscal policy and management, including inaccurate deficit measurement, spending overruns, poor budget credibility, impaired treasury operations, and arrears accumulation.This note addresses the following issues: (1) What are VAT refunds and why should they be managed properly? (2) What practices should be put in place (in tax policy, tax administration, budget and treasury management, debt, and fiscal statistics) to help manage key aspects of VAT refunds? For a refund mechanism to be credible, the tax administration must ensure that it is equipped with the strategies, processes, and abilities needed to identify VAT refund fraud. It must also be prepared to act quickly to combat such fraud/schemes.




The Rise of the Value-Added Tax


Book Description

Explores how the value-added tax (VAT) has risen from relative obscurity to become one of the world's most dominant revenue instruments.




The Ecology of Tax Systems


Book Description

This groundbreaking book analyzes how the ecology of taxation is fundamental for the success or failure of tax systems. It specifically focuses on the role of the ecological environment on taxation; the factors that determine the ecology of taxation; and how the ecology of taxation has changed and may continue to evolve. The implicit, important conclusion is that there are no permanent or universal optimal tax theories: all theories are related to this ecology.




Value Added Tax


Book Description

This book, by Alan A. Tait, is an examination of VAT. It looks at problems and theoretical options and potential impacts, as well as detailing the practical aspects of implementing new tax structures. The author advances arguments for and against alternative policies and illustrates his study with international examples from Europe, Latin America, Asia, and the Pacific. He suggests that countries can learn from each other's experiencees with VAT.




Digitalization and Industry 4.0: Economic and Societal Development


Book Description

Economies are changing – independent from their status, i.e. industrialized, threshold or developing. Technological advancement, e.g. in information or telecommunication, and environmental concerns make people rethink present and future activities. Many challenges can only be tackled internationally or interdisciplinary. The articles of WHZ conferences with DAAD-Alumni and partners from 20 nations take various problems and approaches to solutions into focus. The editors hope some of the ideas to give further thought to similar problems in other regions or areas of science or economy. About the Editors: H.-Ch. Brauweiler, Prof. Dr. Dr. h. c., Prof. of Accounting & Audit, WHZ Zwickau University. Research focus: University management, blended learning, regional development, risk management. V. Kurchenkov, Prof. Dr., Prof. of Public Administration & Management, VSU Volgograd. Research focus: Forecasting & planning, innovation management, municipal administration, economic policy. S. Abilov, Head of Intern. Dep., KAFU Ust Kamenogorsk. Research focus: University management, interdisciplinary & intercultural communication. B. Zirkler, Prof. Dr., Prof. of Accounting/Controlling, WHZ. Research focus: International accounting & controlling, effects of digitization and sustainability on controlling.




Tax Morale What Drives People and Businesses to Pay Tax?


Book Description

Unlocking what drives tax morale – the intrinsic willingness to pay tax – can greatly assist governments in the design of tax policies and their administration, particularly in developing countries where compliance rates are low. This report builds on previous OECD research to identify some of the key socio-economic and institutional drivers of tax morale across developing countries, and seeks to test for evidence of the social contract by examining the impact of public services on tax morale. It also uses new data on tax certainty as an entry point to explore tax morale in businesses, where existing research is very limited. Finally, the report identifies a range of factors related to the tax system that may affect business decision making, how they vary across regions, and suggests some areas for future research. Overall, the report provides a range of suggestions for further work, and how tax morale considerations can be integrated into holistic tax compliance strategies.




The Modern VAT


Book Description

Value-added tax, or VAT, first introduced less than 50 years ago, is now a pivotal component of tax systems around the world. The rapid and seemingly irresistible rise of the VAT is probably the most important tax development of the latter twentieth century, and certainly the most breathtaking. Written by a team of experts from the IMF, this book examines the remarkable spread and current reach of the innovative tax and draws lessons about the design and implementation of the VAT, as experienced by different countries around the world. How efficient is it as a tax, is it fair, and is it suitable for all countries? These are among the questions raised. This highly informative and well-researched book also looks at the likely future of the tax.