The Caribbean Community is in transition, moving toward a liberalized trade environment with low tariffs. Tax reform is at the forefront of the policy response since traditional sources of tax revenue such as import duties are on the decline. This paper evaluates the suitability of the VAT to...

The conventional conclusion is that, ceteris paribus, a revenue-neutral VAT would have no impact on the aggregate price level, unless it elicits a supply response due to a lower degree of distortions. This paper shows that even if we ignore supply response, a revenue-neutral VAT can lead to...

Getting tax and transfer systems to efficiently deliver sufficient revenues to achieve macroeconomic targets, address goals in re-distribution and social welfare, encourage employment, accommodate business-competitiveness concerns and incorporate environmental issues is difficult. In Australia,...

This article provides an overview of the religious background of Zakat and the organisation of the Zakat collection in several Islamic countries. Then the mandatory system in Pakistan of Zakat and Ushr is described in more detail. Zakat and Ushr are spent mainly on much targeted areas like...

The debate about the Tobin Tax, and other financial transaction taxes (FTT), gives rise to strong views both for and against. Unfortunately, little of this debate is based on the now considerable body of evidence about the impact of such taxes. This review attempts to synthesise what we know...

The European Commission has asked Copenhagen Economics to undertake a study on the tax elasticity and semi-tax elasticity of various tax bases that could fall under the taxation of the financial sector. The study will be focused on bringing forward all empirical studies that have analysed how...

the Commission has instructed PwC to provide a review of the current tax provisions directed at the Financial Sector and financial instruments. The content of the Study is limited to the questions raised by the Commission in the questionnaires provided and is subject to certain limitations in...

The 2012 edition of the report ‘Tax reforms in EU Member States’ intends to contribute to the tax policy debate in the EU. Following the successful 2011 edition, the report consists of two parts: i) a short analysis of tax revenue data and an overview of recent tax reforms in Member States,...

The paper is to analyze the inter-industry price and demand effects that were likely to arise from the system of excise tax indexation. The system existed in the period April 1981 to August 1984 in Canada. The paper points out that the unintended cross price effects can be very large when there...

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...