There is often a gap between the prescriptions of an optimal tax system and actual tax systems, some of which can be … reviews the political economics literature on tax systems and reforms to see whether political mechanisms allow us to better … understand why tax systems look the way they look. Finally, we exploit a database of reforms in labour taxation in the European …

issue by estimating “unexplained” changes in tax and social contribution revenues, based on proxies for tax revenue bases … same exercise using alternative tax base proxies, either taken from forecasting models or on the basis of our knowledge of … the tax system in each country. The results show that, in the aggregate, revenue windfalls and shortfalls have exhibited a …

countries using pooled regressions. Fiscal effects are included via after-tax interest rates. Other factors shown to be relevant …

loophole by providing grandfathering (exemption from withholding tax) for some securities. In this paper we compare the pre-tax … returns of exempt bonds and comparable taxable bonds. If working around the Savings Directive is difficult for tax evaders in … enough to allow tax evaders to continue evasion at no additional cost. The findings of our study are in line with this latter …

doctors, and too many lawyers. If the total tax rate is kept constant, then replacing part of existing wage taxes with …

, possibly destroying the case for flexibility. Also, improved budget monitoring and greater transparency increase the benefits …