Comparative Taxation


Book Description

This book compares and contrasts tax systems in developed and developing countries. It addresses; the taxation of incomes, wealth and consumption at the local, national, supranational and international levels; environmental taxes; modern trends in tax admin; and tax reform.







The Personal Income Tax Base


Book Description

This report presents data on the personal income tax base broken down by decile groups for seventeen OECD countries on the basis of a common methodology. For each country it indicates which sources of income are subject to tax and which are not and summarizes the different ways in which governments provide tax reliefs. After discussing the problems posed by the use of different concepts and the unavailability of some statistical data, the report provides estimates of average tax rates at different income levels in each country.




The Revenue Administration Gap Analysis Program


Book Description

It is generally difficult to measure revenue not collected due to noncompliance, but a growing number of countries now regularly produce and publish estimated revenue losses. Good tax gap analysis enables the detection of changes in taxpayer behavior by consistent estimates over time. This Technical Note sets out the theoretical concepts for personal income tax (PIT) gap estimation, the different measurement approaches available, and their implications for the scope and presentation of statistics. The note also focuses on the practical steps for measuring the PIT gap by establishing a random audit program to collect data, and how to scale findings from the sample to the population.




Personal Income Tax Progressivity: Trends and Implications


Book Description

This paper discusses how the structure of the tax system affects its progressivity. It suggests a measure of progressive capacity of tax systems, based on the Kakwani index, but independent of pre-tax income distributions. Using this and other progressivity measures, the paper (i) documents a decline in progressivity over the last decades and (ii) examines the relationship between progressivity and economic growth. Regressions do not reveal a significant impact of progressivity on growth, suggesting that efficiency costs of progressivity may be small—at least for degrees of progressivity observed in the sample.




Stochastic Discounted Cash Flow


Book Description

This open access book discusses firm valuation, which is of interest to economists, particularly those working in finance. Firm valuation comes down to the calculation of the discounted cash flow, often only referred to by its abbreviation, DCF. There are, however, different coexistent versions, which seem to compete against each other, such as entity approaches and equity approaches. Acronyms are often used, such as APV (adjusted present value) or WACC (weighted average cost of capital), two concepts classified as entity approaches. This book explains why there are several procedures and whether they lead to the same result. It also examines the economic differences between the methods and indicates the various purposes they serve. Further it describes the limits of the procedures and the situations they are best applied to. The problems this book addresses are relevant to theoreticians and practitioners alike.




Macroeconomic Effects of Tax Rate and Base Changes


Book Description

This paper examines the macroeconomic effects of tax changes during fiscal consolidations. We build a new narrative dataset of tax changes during fiscal consolidation years, containing detailed information on the expected yield, motivation, and announcement and implementation dates of more than 2,000 tax measures across 10 OECD countries. Using this data, we then analyze the macroeconomic impact of tax changes, distinguishing between tax rate and tax base changes, and further differentiating between changes in personal income, corporate income, and value added taxes. Our results suggest that base broadening during fiscal consolidations leads to smaller output and employment declines compared to rate hikes, even when distinguishing between tax types.




Taxes on Immovable Property


Book Description

Survey of taxes on immovable property. Reviews the major policy issues raised in the taxation of land and buildings and compares the main provision of property tax systems in 15 OECD Member countries.




Tax Policy


Book Description

This book provides a broad analysis of standard tax policy in OECD countries in the first half of the twentieth century. It identifies broad trends in policy, summarises developments in the theory of tax policy and describes and compares policies actually adopted by various groups of countries. It is invaluable for anyone studying or involved in implementing tax policy. Public finance theory and the complexities of tax administration are kept to a minimum throughout to ensure accessibility.




2017 State Business Tax Climate Index


Book Description

The Tax Foundation's State Business Tax Climate Index enables business leaders, government policymakers, and taxpayers to gauge how their states' tax systems compare. While there are many ways to show how much is collected in taxes by state governments, the Index is designed to show how well states structure their tax systems, and provides a roadmap to improving these structures.