Using a panel of household level tax data, we estimate the degree to which dependents are "reassigned" between tax units within households, and how these reassignments affect combined tax liabilities. Reassigning dependents reduces combined tax liabilities on average, suggesting some household...

This paper uses a survey-based approach to test alternative methods of channeling tax relief to donors - as a tax rebate for the donor or as a matched payment to the receiving charity. On accounting grounds these two are equivalent but, in line with earlier experimental studies, we find that...

This paper uses a survey-based approach to test alternative methods of channeling tax relief to donors – as a tax rebate for the donor or as a matched payment to the receiving charity. On accounting grounds these two are equivalent but, in line with earlier experimental studies, we find that...

Many have advocated the taxation of bequests and gifts as income in order to achieve substantial revenues from unearned wealth and address inequality. There are, though, many drawbacks to the idea of taxing inheritance as part of the beneficiary’s income. Even for those who claim the inclusion...

Although most individuals recognize the necessity of taxation, few like to pay taxes. Governments face costs to collect taxes; people expend resources to legally avoid taxation. Such expenditure represents social waste, as it is a form of rent-seeking. Since there is a market for tax planning...

During the last decade, several EU countries have tried to tackle unemployment and low activity rates through extensive tax cuts. In an effort to encourage the taking up of work - especially amongst the less productive workers - policymakers have shown increasing interest in targeted tax and...

In-work benefits, often in the form of earned income tax credits (EITCs), have become increasingly popular over the last decades. Early versions of in-work benefits in the US, the UK and Ireland, primarily motivated as a poverty alleviation measure, have been followed by a large expansion of...

The article describes the revenue estimates of incremental versus fundamental reform options for taxation of individual wealth, and explains how tax avoidance assumptions underlie the larger estimates for fundamental reform

Given the increased availability of survey income data, in this paper we analyse the pros and cons of alternative data sets for static tax-benefit microsimulation in Italy. We focus on all possible alternatives, namely using (a) SHIW or (b) IT-SILC data using a consistent net-to-gross...