|
on Accounting and Auditing |
| By: | Jesus Damian Lopez Manjon (Department of Financial Economics and Accounting, Pablo de Olavide University, Seville, Spain); Juan Baños Sanchez-Matamoros (Department of Financial Economics and Accounting, Pablo de Olavide University, Seville, Spain); Maria Concepcion Alvarez-Dardet Espejo (Department of Financial Economics and Accounting, Pablo de Olavide University, Seville, Spain) |
| Abstract: | This work questions if religious organizations with common shared beliefs and sacred objectives, but which members had a different level of awareness to accounting, should show a different behaviour concerning: a) the status of accounting in their internal organisations; and b) the permeability of such organizations to new accounting techniques. To reach our aim, we have analysed the content of 6 rules of brotherhoods located in the city of Seville (Spain), and enacted at the last decade of the 16th century. We have split the brotherhoods depending on its link or not with a guild or professional group.We can conclude that the awareness to accounting of its members and the perception of the belief system are explanations to cover the dissimilar behaviour of the brotherhoods in relation to accounting. |
| Keywords: | Accounting History; Religious Organizations; 16th century; Belief System |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pab:fiecac:12.02&r=acc |
| By: | Dankó, Zsófia |
| Abstract: | The recent financial and economic crisis of the European Union had exposed the necessity to complete monetary union with an economic union. One of the assets of a stronger economic integration is the harmonization of the tax systems (e.g. the corporate tax regimes) of the 27 Member States. Having this in mind, the European Commission proposed a common mechanism for the calculation of the corporate tax base, the consolidation of the tax bases incurred in the different Member States and the subsequent allocation of the consolidated tax base between the Member States effected (formulary apportionment) in 2011. The system envisaged by the European Commission is already introduced by the world highly integrated economies, like the United States of America and Canada on a domestic level, where the corporate tax base shall be also allocated between the states and the provinces based on the formulary apportionment method. This current article aims to present and compare the elements (factors) of the formulary apportionment method applied by the United States of America and Canada, and the elements of the allocation method proposed by the European Commission. |
| Keywords: | tax harmonization; corporate tax; European Union |
| JEL: | H25 G01 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:40350&r=acc |
| By: | Mutascu, Mihai |
| Abstract: | The aim of paper is to investigate the impact of major religions of the world on collected tax revenues, using a panel-mode approach, with 123 countries, for the period 1996-2010. The paper extends the literature in the field showing how different types of religion influence the level of tax revenues, under an extended set of economic and socio-political control variables. The main finding reveals that collected tax revenues tend to increase under Protestant and Muslim religions. |
| Keywords: | Tax revenues; religion; connections; panel-model; effects |
| JEL: | Z12 H20 C23 |
| Date: | 2012–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:40337&r=acc |
| By: | Mireille Chiroleu-Assouline (EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris School of Economics - Ecole d'Économie de Paris, CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Paris I - Panthéon Sorbonne); Mouez Fodha (EEP-PSE - Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris School of Economics - Ecole d'Économie de Paris, LEO - Université d'Orléans) |
| Abstract: | European countries have increased their use of environmental tax instruments by designing new tax bases. But, many countries have to face the opposition of the public opinion, for fear of the distributive consequences of these environmental tax reforms. This paper sheds light on the distributive consequences of environmental tax policies when households are heterogeneous. The objective is to assess whether an environmental tax reform could be Pareto improving, when the revenue of the pollution tax is recycled by a change in the labor tax properties. We show that, whatever the degree of regressivity of the environmental tax alone, it is possible to design a recycling mechanism that renders the tax reform Pareto improving, by simultaneously decreasing the average rate of the wage tax and increasing its progressivity. |
| Keywords: | Environmental tax reform; heterogeneity; welfare analysis; tax progressivity |
| Date: | 2012–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:cesptp:halshs-00719762&r=acc |
| By: | Florian Heider; Alexander Ljungqvist |
| Abstract: | We use a natural experiment in the form of staggered changes in corporate income tax rates across U.S. states and time to show that tax considerations are a first-order determinant of firms’ capital structure choices. Over the period 1990-2011, firms increase leverage by 114 basis points on average (equivalent to $62.1 million in extra debt) when their home state raises tax rates. Contrary to standard trade-off theory, the tax sensitivity of leverage is asymmetric: Firms do not reduce leverage in response to tax cuts. Using treatment reversals, we find this to be true even within-firm: Tax increases that are later reversed nonetheless lead to permanent increases in a firm’s leverage – an unexpected and novel form of hysteresis. Our findings are robust to various confounds due to unobserved variation in local business conditions or investment opportunities, union power, or states’ political leanings. Treatment effects are heterogeneous, with greater tax sensitivity among profitable and investment-grade firms which have a greater marginal tax benefit and lower marginal cost of issuing debt, respectively. |
| JEL: | G0 G32 |
| Date: | 2012–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:18263&r=acc |
| By: | Mutascu, Mihai |
| Abstract: | The paper investigates the effects of clime conditions on collected tax revenues, based on a panel-model approach. The data-set includes 123 countries and covers the period 1996-2010. The main results show that the assumed function is linear, the clime conditions heaving a significant impact on collected tax revenues. Overall, the collected tax revenues tend to increase under cool, polar or boreal climate. The paper extends the literature in the field by focusing on the clime implications in economy and finds new evidences regarding the determinants of collected tax revenues. |
| Keywords: | Climate conditions; Tax revenues; Panel-model; Effects; Tax policy |
| JEL: | H20 C23 Q54 |
| Date: | 2012–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:40324&r=acc |
| By: | Atsushi Kawamoto (Policy Research Institute, the Ministry of Finance, Japan) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, the interrelationship between the capital tax policies of local governments is empirically investigated using a data set from Japan. Reaction functions of local governments, which relate their capital tax rates to those in competing governments and their characteristics, are estimated through both the instrumental variable method and maximum likelihood estimation. The results suggest that a positive relationship exists among local governments in Japan. |
| Date: | 2012–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mof:wpaper:ron238&r=acc |
| By: | Richard M. Bird (University of Toronto); J. Scott Wilkie (Ernst & Young LLP, Toronto) |
| Abstract: | This paper is a non-technical discussion by an economist and lawyer, each with long international experience in taxation, of the constraints and objectives that in principle and practice shape tax policy design. After discussing the main factors traditionally taken into account by those charged with designing tax policy in any country – such as revenue, the costs of taxation, equity and fairness, administrability, and the effects of taxation on growth and other non-fiscal objectives – several additional important considerations associated with ‘globalization’ are then discussed with special attention to income taxes. The paper concludes with a brief reflection on how the ‘new world tax order’ in which countries must now develop their tax systems may perhaps develop over time. |
| Keywords: | tax policy design; globalization |
| Date: | 2012–04–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ays:ispwps:paper1224&r=acc |
| By: | Jorge Martinez-Vazquez (International Center for Public Policy. Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University); Blanca Moreno-Dodson (The World Bank); VIoleta Vulovic (International Center for Public Policy. Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University) |
| Abstract: | The main focus of this paper is on the potential role that taxation and public expenditure policies play in general in affecting income distribution. We find that progressive personal income taxes and corporate income taxes reduce income inequality. The effect of corporate income taxes seems to be eroded away in open or globalized economies. We also generally find that general consumption taxes, excise taxes and customs duties have a negative impact on income distribution. On the expenditure side, we find that higher shares of GDP on social welfare, education, health and housing public expenditures have a positive impact on income distribution. |
| Keywords: | Tax Policy, Public Expenditures, Income Distribution, Tax Progressivity |
| Date: | 2012–05–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ays:ispwps:paper1225&r=acc |
| By: | James Alm (Department of Economics, Tulane University); Asmaa El-Ganainy (Fiscal Affiars Department, International Monetary Fund (IMF)) |
| Abstract: | One of the main rationales for taxing consumption rather than income is that it is believed that consumption taxes discourage consumption, encourage savings, and thus generate higher economic growth. However, empirical evidence on the actual effectiveness of consumption taxes in stimulating savings is very limited. In this paper, we estimate the impact of a broad-based consumption tax, the value-added tax (VAT), on the aggregate consumption of fifteen European Union countries over the period 1961-2005. Our empirical results indicate, across a variety of estimation methods and specifications, that a one percentage point increase in the VAT rate leads to roughly a one percent reduction in the level of aggregate consumption in the short run and to a somewhat larger reduction in the long run. |
| Keywords: | value-added taxation, consumption taxation, savings, economic growth, generalized methods of moments estimation |
| JEL: | H20 H25 H31 |
| Date: | 2012–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tul:wpaper:1203&r=acc |
| By: | Miao, Zhen; Beghin, John C.; Jensen, Helen H. |
| Abstract: | In order to reduce obesity and associated costs, policymakers are considering various policies, including taxes, to change consumers’ high-calorie consumption habits. We investigate two tax policies aimed at reducing added sweetener consumption. Both a consumption tax on sweet goods and a sweetener input tax can reach the same policy target of reducing added sweetener consumption. Both tax instruments are regressive, but the associated surplus losses are limited. The tax on sweetener inputs targets sweeteners directly and causes about five times less surplus loss than the final consumption tax. Previous analyses have overlooked this important point. |
| Keywords: | consumption tax; demand; health policy; soda tax; sugar; added sweeteners |
| JEL: | I18 Q18 |
| Date: | 2011–03–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:isu:genres:32670&r=acc |
| By: | Richard M. Bird (University of Toronto) |
| Abstract: | Canada is not a country with a reputation for bold experimentation. However, Canadian experience demonstrates conclusively that an invoice-credit, destination-based value-added tax (VAT) is workable at the subnational level, with both federal and provincial governments retaining full control over the rates of their sales taxes as well as retaining a surprising degree of policy freedom with respect to the base of the tax. As this paper shows against the background of a concise history of sales taxation in Canada, it has taken decades of federal-provincial negotiations to produce the present substantially integrated national and provincial sales tax system. Moreover, the process not yet complete and the results are far from perfect. Nonetheless, Canada has shown that not only can VATs be introduced at the subnational level but that they can work surprisingly well – at least in a country with an over-riding national VAT. |
| Keywords: | Canada, VAT, subnational taxes, intergovernmental fiscal relations |
| Date: | 2012–04–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ays:ispwps:paper1221&r=acc |
| By: | Guner, Nezih; Kaygusuz, Remzi; Ventura, Gustavo |
| Abstract: | We use micro data from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service to document how Federal Income tax liabilities vary with income, marital status and the number of dependents. We report facts on the distributions of average taxes, properties of the joint distributions of taxes paid and income, and discuss how taxes are affected by marital status and the number of children. We also provide multiple parametric estimates of tax functions for use in applied work in macroeconomics and public finance. |
| Keywords: | Households; Tax Progressivity; Taxation |
| JEL: | E62 H24 H31 |
| Date: | 2012–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:9078&r=acc |
| By: | James Alm (Department of Economics, Tulane University); Erich Kirchler (Department of Applied Psychology: Work, Education and Economy, University of Vienna); Stephan Muehlbacher (Department of Applied Psychology: Work, Education and Economy, University of Vienna); Katharina Gangl (Department of Applied Psychology: Work, Education and Economy, University of Vienna); Eva Hofmann (Department of Applied Psychology: Work, Education and Economy, University of Vienna); Christoph Kogler (Department of Applied Psychology: Work, Education and Economy, University of Vienna); Maria Pollai (Department of Applied Psychology: Work, Education and Economy, University of Vienna) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we give our perspective on the different paradigms that have shaped – and seem likely to shape in the future – research in the field of tax compliance behavior. These research paradigms include viewing tax evasion as a decision under risk made by a single taxpayer, as a social dilemma in which there is a tension between individual interests (e.g., cheating on one's taxes) and collective goals (e.g., providing public goods), as a series of decisions made by many different types of taxpayers, and as a psychological contract between tax authorities and taxpayers. We argue that these different paradigms require that particular attention be paid to the main "actors in the field", which involves going beyond a focus on a single taxpayer to consider other taxpayers, tax accountants, the tax authorities, and the government. The ways in which these actors interact in different climates, especially the dynamics of power and trust between the actors, must also be considered. We conclude with a discussion of a framework – the "slippery slope framework" – that attempts to synthesize these different research paradigms. Throughout, we illustrate our arguments by reference to research that focuses especially on the European experience. |
| Keywords: | tax evasion, behavioral economics, social norms, "slippery slope" |
| JEL: | H26 D03 |
| Date: | 2012–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tul:wpaper:1210&r=acc |
| By: | James Alm (Department of Economics, Tulane University); Keith Finlay (Department of Economics, Tulane University) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we examine the distributional effects of tax evasion, using results from theoretical, experimental, empirical, and especially the general equilibrium literatures on tax evasion. Much, if not all, of this evidence concludes that the main beneficiaries of successful tax evasion are the tax evaders themselves, with distributional effects that largely favor higher income individuals. However, when general equilibrium adjustments in commodity and factor prices are considered, the distributional effects become considerably more complicated. The work on tax compliance is also put in the broader context of the distributional effects of other types of criminal activities, where similar forces seem to be at work. We conclude with some suggestions for future research. |
| Keywords: | tax evasion, general equilibrium |
| JEL: | H26 H22 D03 |
| Date: | 2012–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tul:wpaper:1214&r=acc |
| By: | Brad, Anca Maria |
| Abstract: | The paper seeks to find the impact of tax policy on income and wealth redistribution, as well as its effects on welfare. Redistribution through transfers has a major contribution to reducing inequality and polarization of income. The fiscal reforms in present-day circumstances imply as outcome the so called “tax uniformity”, embedding income redistribution through budgetary mechanisms, an arrangement that greatly depends on the alternative chosen by the authorities for the distribution of tax burden among various categories of contributors. In Eastern European economies, under the absence of a sustainable economic growth and structural reforms, flat taxes can lead to polarization of income. The authors argue that if progressive rates are feasible in eastern countries, taxation reconsideration generates economic effects triggered by the change in tax burden and social effects triggered by a decrease in the unemployment, living conditions, education and labour. |
| Keywords: | tax policy; redistribution; flat tax; progressive rates; welfare state |
| JEL: | E62 D31 H20 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:40347&r=acc |
| By: | Teguh Dartanto (Institute for Economic and Social Research (LPEM FEUI), Faculty of Economics, University of Indonesia) |
| Abstract: | The CIT reform enacted by Law No.36 of 2008 cuts maximum tax rates from 30 per cent to 25 per cent and offers some incentives for business in Indonesia. This study aims at measuring the impacts of 2008 CIT reform on tax revenue and poverty. The 2008 CIT reform supported with the administrative reforms and the 2008 tax amnesty policy has increased new corporate tax payers by 422,407 and tax revenue by 53.95 per cent during 2009 to 2011. Further, the simulation result of CGE-Microsimulation shows that cutting the CIT rate from 30 per cent to 25 per cent will attract IDR 41.77 trillion of new investments, create 441,910 new job opportunities, boost 1.46 per cent of economic growth, decline 1 per cent of consumer price index, and raise averagely 1.5 per cent of wage rates. These macroeconomic changes contribute significantly to lift 1.88 million people (0.898 per cent) out of poverty. |
| Keywords: | Corporate Income Tax Reform, CGE, Microsimulation, Poverty, Indonesia |
| JEL: | C68 H25 I32 I38 |
| Date: | 2012–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lpe:wpecbs:201203&r=acc |
| By: | Carolina Torres; Kirsti Mellbye; Bert Brys |
| Abstract: | Policymakers cannot directly adjust the tax burden of labour income, but they can reform the statutory elements of the tax system, which ultimately determine average and marginal tax rates. To shed light on the determinants of average and marginal personal tax rates, this paper discusses historical and cross-country trends in statutory personal income tax rates, the income thresholds where personal income tax and employee social security contribution rates apply, and other statutory provisions that shape the tax burden on labour income in OECD countries. Trends in the difference between statutory, average and marginal personal income tax rates are also analysed and graphically illustrated. The impact of employee social security contributions on top marginal personal tax rates is also discussed. The most pronounced trend that emerged from 2000 to 2010 in OECD countries is a reduction in top statutory personal income tax rates. This trend was accompanied by reductions in the threshold where the top rate applies, as well as reductions in the statutory rate applicable at average wage earnings.<P>Évolution des barèmes des impôts sur le revenu des personnes physiques et des cotisations de sécurité sociale<BR>Les responsables politiques ne sont pas en mesure d’ajuster directement la charge fiscale des revenus du travail mais ils ont la possibilité de réformer les aspects du système fiscal qui sont définis par la loi, et qui déterminent en définitive les taux moyens et marginaux d’imposition. Afin de mettre en lumière les déterminants des taux moyens et marginaux d’imposition des revenus des personnes physiques, ce document étudie, dans une optique rétrospective et internationale, l’évolution des taux légaux de l’impôt sur le revenu des personnes physiques, les seuils d’application de l’impôt sur le revenu et des cotisations salariales de sécurité sociale, ainsi que les autres dispositions légales qui influent sur la charge fiscale des revenus du travail dans les pays de l’OCDE. L’évolution de la différence entre les taux légaux, moyens et marginaux de l’impôt sur le revenu des personnes physiques est également analysée et représentée graphiquement. Par ailleurs, ce document examine l’impact des cotisations salariales de sécurité sociale sur les taux marginaux maximums d’imposition des revenus des personnes physiques. La tendance la plus nette qui se dégage dans les pays de l’OCDE entre 2000 et 2010 est la réduction des taux légaux maximums de l’impôt sur le revenu des personnes physiques. Cette évolution s’est accompagnée de réductions du seuil d’application du taux maximum, ainsi que de réductions du taux légal applicable au salaire moyen. |
| Keywords: | personal income tax, social security contributions, tax exemptions, statutory tax rate, surtax, exonération fiscale, cotisations de sécurité sociale, impôt sur le revenu des personnes physiques, taux légal d’imposition, surtaxe |
| JEL: | H24 H55 H71 |
| Date: | 2012–07–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ctpaaa:12-en&r=acc |
| By: | James Alm (Department of Economics, Tulane University) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, I assess what we have learned about tax evasion since Michael Allingham and Agnar Sandmo launched the modern analysis of tax evasion in 1972. I focus on three specific questions and the answers to these questions that have emerged over the years. First, how do we measure the extent of evasion? Second, how can we explain these patterns of behavior? Third, how can we use these insights to control evasion? In the process, I illustrate my own answers to these questions by highlighting various specific examples of research. My main conclusion is that we have learned many things but that we also still have many gaps in our understanding of how to measure, explain, and control tax evasion. I also give some suggestions – and some predictions – about where promising avenues of future research may lie. |
| Keywords: | tax evasion, behavioral economics, experimental economics |
| JEL: | H2 H26 D03 C9 |
| Date: | 2012–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tul:wpaper:1213&r=acc |
| By: | Raffaella Basile; Bruno Chiarini; Elisabetta Marzano |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the effects of fiscal policy in Italy by employing a database containing two statistical novelties: quarterly fiscal variables on accrual basis and a time series estimate of tax evasion for the period 1981:1-2006:4. Following Revenue Agency suggestions, we use in a VECM the time series of the concealed VAT base as a proxy for the size of “unreported production”, and define a regular GDP measure constructed as GDP net of government expenditure and evaded VAT base. The results reveal that we cannot rely upon the estimates of fiscal policy multipliers in countries with a sizeable unreported production unless the dynamics of the hidden and regular components of the GDP are disentangled. Changes in public spending and the tax rate generate a reallocation from underground to the regular economy which contributes to obscure the spending and tax effect on total GDP. In this setup the spending multiplier shows large long-run effects, considerably stronger than those registered in a model with no attention paid to unreported production. The drop in regular output, after an increase in the effective tax rate, tends to be considerable after one year, producing long-lasting effects and a significant increase in unreported production and tax evasion. |
| Keywords: | Fiscal policy, VECM, fiscal multipliers, unreported GDP, tax ratio, effective tax rate. |
| JEL: | C32 E62 H26 H62 |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:itt:wpaper:wp2012-1&r=acc |
| By: | Luca Barbone; Richard M. Bird (University of Toronto); Jaime Vazquez-Caro |
| Abstract: | This paper reviews the literature on the costs of VAT, beginning with a review of concepts with regard to different aspects of administrative and compliance costs and then a review of quantitative estimates of such costs. It concludes with a brief discussion of VAT non-compliance and fraud with special reference to European Union case.in the European VAT context, including some suggestive evidence on the trade-off between compliance costs and fraud. |
| Date: | 2012–04–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ays:ispwps:paper1222&r=acc |
| By: | Maria Antónia Jorge de Jesus (ISCTE-IUL, Business School, Department of Accounting and BRU-IUL); Susana Margarida Jorge (University of Coimbra, Faculty of Economics) |
| Abstract: | The main purpose of this paper is to assess the implications on the European Union (EU) member-States Central Government deficit/surplus of different accounting basis adopted in Governmental Accounting (GA – microeconomic perspective) and National Accounting (NA – macroeconomic perspective). It analyses the cash to accrual basis adjustments to be made to General Government Sector (GGS) data, when converting from Governmental Accounts to National Accounts. Additionally, it assesses the impact of the accounting basis differences on the Central Government deficit/surplus, one of the macroeconomic indicators that EU member-States are obliged to report in order to accomplish with the Maastricht Treaty convergence criteria. From the conceptual point of view, the paper highlights relevant differences between the two accounting systems (GA and NA), namely regarding accounting principles, such as recognition criteria – cash versus accrual bases. In spite of recent GA reforms trends in the EU member-States, moving from cash to accruals, differences still remain due to the existence, in some countries, of two different accounting bases in GA – accrual basis for financial accounting and modified cash basis for budgetary accounting. This is particularly relevant since the data from GA to NA are based on budgetary reporting. The empirical study focuses on five EU countries – Germany, The Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and The United Kingdom. It develops a comparative analysis gathering countries representative enough of both Continental and Anglo-Saxon European governmental accounting perspectives. Following a qualitative methodology, the research is mostly supported by documental sources, namely Inventories of Sources and Methods disclosed by each of those countries and the respective Excessive Deficit Procedure (EDP) Notifications from April 2008 to October 2010, covering years 2005 to 2009 and Central Government data. It aims (1) to make a comparative analysis of the accounting bases adjustments and the respective accounting treatment and (2) to evaluate the impact of those adjustments on each country’s deficit/surplus. This paper contributes to a better understanding of the accounting basis differences for the convergence process between GA and NA, allowing for more reliable informative outputs to be reached for both micro and macro perspectives. |
| Keywords: | Governmental Accounting, National Accounts, Budgetary Accounting, Convergence Criteria, General Government Sector, Public Deficit/Surplus |
| Date: | 2012–06–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:isc:iscwp2:bruwp1201&r=acc |
| By: | Dirk Heine; John Norregaard; Ian W.H. Parry |
| Abstract: | This paper recommends a system of upstream taxes on fossil fuels, combined with refunds for downstream emissions capture, to reduce carbon and local pollution emissions. Motor fuel taxes should also account for congestion and other externalities associated with vehicle use, at least until mileage-based taxes are widely introduced. An examination of existing energy/environmental tax systems in Germany, Sweden, Turkey, and Vietnam suggests that there is substantial scope for policy reform. This includes harmonizing taxes for pollution content across different fuels and end-users, better aligning tax rates with values for externalities, and scaling back taxes on vehicle ownership and electricity use that are redundant (on environmental grounds) in the presence of more targeted taxes. |
| Keywords: | Cross country analysis , Energy taxes , Environmental protection , Germany , Sweden , Tax reforms , Tax system reviews , Turkey , Vietnam , |
| Date: | 2012–07–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:imf:imfwpa:12/180&r=acc |
| By: | Noel D., Johnson; Mark, Koyama |
| Abstract: | How did modern and centralized fiscal institutions emerge? We develop a model that explains (i) why pre-industrial states relied on private individuals to collect taxes; (ii) why after 1600 both England and France moved from competitive methods for collecting revenues to allocating the right to collect taxes to a small group of financiers—a intermediate institution that we call cabal tax farming—and (iii) why this centralization led to investments in fiscal capacity and increased fiscal standardization. We provide detailed historical evidence that supports our prediction that rulers abandoned the competitive allocation of tax rights in favor of cabal tax farming in order to gain access to inside credit and that this transition was accompanied by investments in standardization. Finally (iv) we show why this intermediate institution proved to be self-undermining in England where it was quickly replaced by direct collection, but lasted in France until the French Revolution. |
| Keywords: | State Capacity; Standardization; Tax Farming; France; England; Transaction Costs |
| JEL: | N23 H11 K00 D02 N44 |
| Date: | 2012–07–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:40403&r=acc |