We describe Hayek's position on taxation and its subsequent developments. Hayek defends the proportional tax system. If a majority rule corrects deviations from political power must also restrict the conditions of progressive taxation. According to Hayek the progressive tax system (SFP) violates...

Belgium is characterised by a comparatively high tax wedge. Starting from the end of the 90's there has been a growing concern over the effect of high labour costs on the employment of low skilled workers. One of the most innovative measures implemented by the federal government is the targeted...

We develop a theory of social planning with a concern for economic coercion, which we define as the difference between consumers’ actual utility, and the “counterfactual” utility they expect to obtain if they were able to set policy themselves. Reasons to limit economic coercion include...

The main research question of the project is summarized as: What are the macroeconomic and distributional consequences of fiscal devaluation for a selection of countries and the EU as a whole? The selected countries are France, Italy, Spain and Austria. The project aims to perform four tasks: 1....

In New Zealand, excise taxes are levied on three commodity groups: alcohol, tobacco and petrol. The 2001 Tax Review, published by the New Zealand Treasury, argued that excises are inequitable and inefficient, and advised that these taxes should be removed and the revenue replaced by raising the...

The Belgian “Generations Pact” contained a measure which aims at removing an inactivity trap for people who benefit from a survivor pension. In this paper we use a sample of administrative data from the “Datawarehouse labour market and social protection” and the microsimulation model...

In the period 2001-2004 two major reforms followed in Belgium: a personal income tax reform which included a new tax credit on low earnings (2001) and a reform of social security contributions for low wage employees (2004). Using a discrete hours labor supply model, this paper assesses the...

What structure of income taxation maximizes the social benefits of redistribution while minimizing the social harm associated with distorting the allocation of labor input? Many authors have advocated scrapping the current tax system, which redistributes primarily via marginal tax rates that...

This paper provides an empirical analysis of the potential effects of a proposed tax reform in Serbia on poverty and vulnerable groups. The essence of the proposal is transferring the tax burden from wages to personal consumption, thus alleviating one production factor and therefore stimulating...