This background paper describes five different tools that can be used for the assessment of tax incentives by governments in low income countries' (LICs). The first tool (an application of cost-benefit analysis) provides an overarching framework for assessment. Evaluations of the various costs...

Businesses which seek the location that offers the highest profitability are likely to consider tax incentives and the level of government services available. However, once a business commits itself to a locality, high moving costs render it vulnerable to future tax increases or denial of...

One difficulty confronting Harberger’s celebrated model of the corporate income tax is how to treat the noncorporate production in primarily corporate sectors and corporate production in primarily noncorporate sectors. This paper presents a two-good model with corporate and noncorporate...

The classical corporate profits tax in the United States involves non-neutralities between: different sources of financing; different forms of business organization; and retaining or distributing earnings and may result in the U.S. investor being at a disadvantage vis-à-vis foreign investors....

This paper examines the possibility of ascertaining the welfare changes that occur when a consumption tax replaces an equal-yield income tax. It finds that those with saving/income ratios greater than the social saving/income ratio under the income tax will surely benefit and those with ratios...

Compared with its U.S. and U.K. counterparts, the Labor Tax Credit (LTC) is likely to have more limited effects on incentives for primary-earners to enter the labor force, because of the smaller size of the credit. Any significant increase in the LTC to strengthen its effect on the still large...