The Japanese tax system applies relatively low marginal tax rates on most economic activities which, in combination … with moderate tax elasticities of the bases, indicate that the overall distortion from the tax system (the excess burden …) is probably modest compared with other OECD countries. Recent sizeable reductions in statutory marginal tax rates in both …

In the context of the current tax policy debate in the United States, this paper reviews and discusses some of the main … recurrent themes, as well as some of the most important tax reform proposals put forward over the past two decades. It finds … that although there seems to be widespread agreement that the current tax system is too complex, unfair, and distortionary …