Most of the literature on presumptive taxation limits its application to the less-developed economies. In this paper I argue that presumptive taxes are well entrenched in the modern world, although usually not classified as such. Presumptive taxes can take many forms, and can be incorporated in...

Although much academic and policy discussion has focused on replacing the income tax with a consumption-based tax, very few consumption-based direct tax reforms have been enacted. Much more common are approaches that reduce the level of capital-income taxation under an income tax, including the...

Some noncompliant taxpayers fall outside the reach of third-party withholding and reporting. Revenue agencies may use enforcement and/or prosocial strategies to encourage compliance among such taxpayers. Revenue agencies should stand ready to use narrative as part of these efforts, despite...

Using cumulative prospect theory as a notable example of reference-dependent preference, we revisit the basic portfolio model of tax evasion. We show that some controversial implications of the standard expected-utility theory, including that of a negative relationship between tax rates and...

Mental accounting practices of self-employed taxpayers are investigated in two studies. Interviews (N=30) revealed that perceptions of the tax due differ widely. While a majority mentally segregate the tax component from their net income, others claim ownership of the gross income as a whole and...

Individuals in most all countries face a wide range of direct taxes on their income, especially variants of the individual income tax and payroll taxes. For the income tax, attempts are often made to reduce the compliance and administrative costs of the tax by using presumptive, or simplified,...

The effects of personal income tax changes are usually analyzed by comparing the inequality of income distributions before and after the tax policy change on a fixed pretax income distribution. This constant-population methodology aims at isolating the "pure" redistributive effect of the tax...

Although consumption-based direct taxation has long been advocated in academic and policy circles, very few countries have actually implemented such taxes.This article provides an overview of alternative approaches to direct consumption taxation and examines arguments favoring consumption taxes...

The German 2008 corporate tax reform followed the distinct and internationally prevalent pattern of tax-rate cut cum base broadening. Based on a new corporate microsimulation model, ZEW TaxCoMM, we assess the heterogeneous effects of the tax reform on firms, varying according to some of the...

This aims to provide a perspective on the ideal tax system, using insights from optimal-tax theory supplemented with empirical evidence. These insights are applied to actual policy questions regarding the progressiveness of the labor-income tax, in-work tax credits, the design of the...