In New Zealand, excise taxes are levied on three commodity groups: alcohol, tobacco and petrol. The 2001 Tax Review, published by the New Zealand Treasury, argued that excises are inequitable and inefficient, and advised that these taxes should be removed and the revenue replaced by raising the...

The redistributive and efficiency aspects of personal taxes are of particular interest to both economists and governments designing tax reforms. Traditionally however, the numerous analytical tools available to calculate distributional and efficiency effects of taxes and transfers are not widely...

The redistributive and efficiency aspects of personal taxes are of particular interest to both economists and governments designing tax reforms. Traditionally however, the numerous analytical tools available to calculate distributional and efficiency effects of taxes and transfers are not widely...

This paper examines the generation of earnings distributions using a labour supply framework in which individuals face piecewise-linear budget constraints. The possible implications for the distribution of earnings within a population consisting of single individuals having a joint distribution...

This paper provides a technical introduction to the use of the elasticity of taxable income in welfare comparisons and optimal tax discussions. It draws together, using a consistent framework and notation, a number of established results concerning marginal welfare changes and optimal taxes....

This paper examines the determination of the optimal threshold value for Goods and Services Tax (GST) for imported units arising from internet orders. The concept of an optimal threshold is wider than simply the maximisation of revenue net of administrative costs. At the optimal threshold, the...