The book offers a comprehensive treatment of tax theory and policy. It surveys the German tax system, portrays tax history, and describes principles of tax administration and the construction of schedules. Tax shifting, optimal taxation theory, and questions of tax justice are considered in...

The book offers a comprehensive treatment of tax theory and policy. It surveys the German tax system, portrays tax history, and describes principles of tax administration and the construction of schedules. Tax shifting, optimal taxation theory, and questions of tax justice are considered in...

The book offers a comprehensive treatment of tax theory and policy. It surveys the German tax system, portrays tax history, and describes principles of tax administration and the construction of schedules. Tax shifting, optimal taxation theory, and questions of tax justice are considered in...

This paper makes a fresh attempt at characterizing optimal commoditytaxes. Under the usual assumptions, an extremely simple expressionof second-best commodity taxes is derived, showing tax rates as functions ofobservable variables only, rather than as functions of unobservable variablessuch as...

Until 2004, German long-term unemployed received a tax-financed benefit (Arbeitslosenhilfe)which exceeded social assistance for the disabled (Sozialhilfe). This has beenchanged by the recent reform known as “Hartz IV”: Effective from 2005, long-termunemployed on the one hand (who are no more...

In Germany, commuting expenses have been deductible from the income tax base for a long time. Germany’s grand coalition has now restricted this deduction. The article analyses whether or not this was justified from an economic point of view. It is shown that, in the long run, the tax treatment...

In Germany, commuting expenses have been deductible from the income tax base for a long time. Germany’s grand coalition has now restricted this deduction. The article analyses whether or not this was justified from an economic point of view. It is shown that, in the long run, the tax treatment...

According to a widely held belief, ?all who are able to work, should work?. We consider this statement within a framework of non-linear taxation. The crucial difference between our model and the standard model is that the government can distinguish between productive persons and the disabled. A...

According to a widely held belief, all who are able to work, should work . We consider this statement within a framework of non-linear taxation. The crucial differ-ence between our model and the standard model is that the government can distinguish between productive persons and the disabled. A...

Effective from 2005, benefits for long-term unemployed have been reduced in Germany to the level of social assistance. This measure reflects the view that "all who are able to work, should work" - a view which makes sense only if the government can distinguish the disabled from the productive....