Sijbren Cnossen - Böcker

The Dutch tax system distorts economic decisions, treats equal economic positions unequally for tax purposes, and is extraordinarily complex. Following in the footsteps of the Mirrlees Review, prominent economists from academia and the policy arena, at home and abroad, provide independent, evidence-based analyses of the system's shortcomings, as well as detailed proposals for reform. Tax by Design for the Netherlands spans the whole spectrum of taxes on labor and capital income, profits, consumption, wealth, inheritance, and charges to correct for market and individual failure, including the environment.

Following the introduction of the euro, the European Union has started to debate the desirability and feasibility of more co-ordination in the field of capital income taxation. In contrast with product taxes, the EU Treaty does not provide for explicit authority to harmonize income taxes. So far, little co-ordination has taken place, even though the capital income tax base is much more mobile and hence more difficult to tax than is, for instance, consumption (and labour). There is much discussion on a minimum withholding tax on interest and on a code of conduct for business income taxes, but in practice little real progress is being made in aligning the various capital income taxes. More fundamentally, a broad, tax-policy type of discussion on whether, where, and how capital income should be taxed is lacking. The papers in this volume try to fill this void. Roger Gordon addresses the question of whether or not capital income should be taxed. Subsequently, Peggy Musgrave and Richard Bird / Scott Wilkie try to come to grips with the question of where capital income should be taxed–in the member state of source or the member state of residence. Michael Devereux and Harry Huizinga / Søren Bo Nielsen then analyse various issues that arise in taxing equity income and imposing a withholding tax on interest. Next, Stephen Bond and Sijbren Cnossen discuss specific comprehensive proposals for taxing capital income in open economies. Finally, Scott Newlon and Charles McLure / Joann Weiner look at the difficulties of and alternatives to maintaining separate corporate income taxes in the EU. This introductory chapter summarizes the various papers and briefly discusses the basic issues and solutions.

Most African countries are in dire need of more tax revenue. In 28 out of 45 countries with a value-added tax (VAT), total tax revenue as a percentage of GDP is around 15% or less, falling short of what is necessary to finance basic human and economic development. Far from being revenue-raising instruments, current African VATs are riddled with exemptions, exclusions, and zero rates on domestic goods and services that depress revenue, are highly distortionary, and greatly complicate the administration of VAT. Modernizing VATs in Africa enables policymakers, professionals, and students to analyse African tax systems to ascertain how they can be modernized. It explains the case for VAT base-broadening over rate-increasing, arguing that exemptions and zero rates mainly accrue benefits for higher-income groups. Even more persuasively, it demonstrates that the net result of fiscal systems can be equalizing if the revenue of broad-based VATs is used to finance in-kind transfers, such as healthcare and education. VAT modernization should be used to enable governments to finance development; Modernizing VATs in Africa puts a compelling case forward for how and why this can be achieved.

Excise taxes on smoking, drinking, gambling, polluting, and driving are always topical and controversial. Not only are these taxes convenient sources of government revenue, they can also be designed to reflect the external costs that consumers or producers of excisable products impose on other people. Global warming, acid rain, traffic congestion, and the economic costs of cigarette and alcohol consumption are problems that can be corrected through selective excise taxes and other regulatory instruments. Excise taxes, moreover, are increasingly looked upon as revenue substitutes for distortionary taxes on capital and labour. Addressing these and other issues, this book by internationally recognized experts analyses the art of excise taxation, providing a systematic, insightful, and often provocative treatment of a major fiscal instrument that policy-makers often neglect, and that gets little attention in the professional literature. It provides a sound understanding, not only of relevant economic theory, but of the myriad institutional details that are crucial for the practical application of that theory.

The papers in this volume review and evaluate the wave of income tax reforms that have taken place in the industrial world over the last five years. The key issues which are singled out include the effect of the income tax on labor supply, the tax unit, the relationship with social security taxes, the taxation of capital income, international issues and the political economy of income taxation. Special attention is given to the choice between income and consumption as the appropriate tax base on efficiency and horizontal equity grounds.

Growing populations and economies have increased the public's awareness that the world's environmental resources are finite. The issues of global warming and the depletion of the ozone layer have given universal significance to what were once local and regional pollution problems. What is evident from this book is that Coasian negotiations fail to internalize the costs of environmental degradation, often calling for public intervention through the market mechanism. In its consideration of such issues, the book includes contributions on assessment problems, institutional aspects, the need for co-ordination and efficiency, and distribution issues.

Serious research into the causes and implications of anaging population is a relatively recent phenomenon. Thoughseveral relevant issues of aging havereceived considerableattention in public and political discussions (especially inEuropean countries and in Japan), the economics professionis somewhat lacking behind. This is particularly true forthetheoretical underpinnings of the economics of populationaging. Until now, the aging-debate is primarily led byinstitutionalists. The present book with its analytical andeconometric studies on fiscal implications of populationaging is an important step in the process of theoreticalanalysis of aging. It is of interest both for populationeconomists (and demographers) and for public economists -providing a bridge between these areas of research.

Growing populations and economies have increased the public's awareness that the world's environmental resources are finite. The issues of global warming and the depletion of the ozone layer have given universal significance to what were once local and regional pollution problems. What is evident from Public Economics and the Environment in an Imperfect World is that Coasian negotiations fail to internalize the costs of environmental degradation, often calling for public intervention through the market mechanism. In its consideration of such issues the book includes contributions on assessment problems, institutional aspects, the need for coordination and efficiency, and distribution issues.