In developed countries, the income tax, especially the personal income tax, has long been viewed as the primary instrument for redistributing income and wealth. This article examines whether it makes sense for developing countries to rely on the income tax for redistributive purposes. We put...

An important characteristic of many countries is that they exhibit, to greater or lesser degrees, some 'asymmetry' in the way in which different regions are treated by their intergovernmental fiscal systems. This paper explores some of the varied extents and manners in which such asymmetrical...

The main aim of this paper is to present a condensed version of some of the complex facts surrounding several major tax reforms in developing countries so that those concerned with such matters elsewhere can learn and profit from both the successes -- transitory though they may sometimes be --...

I argue in this paper that state value-added tax is more likely to be the right way to tax sales at the state level than seems to be recognized in most current US discussion. As Canadian experience demonstrates, a state VAT is both better in principle than even the best state retail sales tax...

The best tax policy in the world is worth little if it cannot be implemented effectively. Tax policy design in developing countries must therefore take the administrative dimension of taxation carefully into account. What can be done may to a considerable extent determine what is done in any...

Governments exist, in part, to cope with the weaknesses of their citizens and subsist, to some extent, on the basis of those same weaknesses. Alcoholic beverages have long played a critical role on both sides of this equation. Over-indulgence in drink is a factor in crime, injury, and illness....

This paper reviews the relationship, or lack of it, between two bodies of literature dealing, respectively, with cost-benefit analysis and the marginal cost of public funds (MCF). It argues that, while there are no simple answers to the question of how, or to what extent, different methods of...

In Jamaica, as in most countries, consumption taxes in the form of a value-added tax called the General Consumption Tax (GCT) and several excise taxes collectively known as the Special Consumption Tax (SCT) are critically important revenue sources, accounting for 37.4 percent of total revenues...

This paper discusses the roles that real property taxes may potentially play in developing countries both as a source of local revenue and as part of land use policy. We then describe how very far reality diverges from this prescription and note some reasons why it may prove more difficult to...

The value-added tax has, in recent decades, become the most important single tax in most developing and transitional economies. This paper reviews some problems that have emerged as important as more experience has been gained with how VATs really work in many such countries and suggests some...