Looking back on the evolution of taxation reform in developed economies over the post-war period, we observe that the early decades were marked by a determined effort to implement reforms based on Haig-Simons principles of a comprehensive income taxation. Under this approach all the various...

‘Simplification' has been the mantra of tax reformers and tax deformers since the late 1950s and has frequently been cited as a rationale for tax changes in the closing years of the twentieth century and the opening years of the twenty-first. The near universal agreement by tax critics that...

While the calculation of taxable income under Australian income tax law is similar to the calculation of net profits under accounting standards, there are some fundamental differences between the two systems. These derive in part from the structure of the legislation, in part from the...

Civil law scholars often assume there are general differences in the approaches taken to the interpretation of income tax laws in civil law jurisdictions and common law jurisdictions. However, these differences may be dwarfed by the different approaches taken by two camps within the common law...

The introduction of federal income taxation in Canada in 1917 is commonly described as a war time funding measure. War time finances only partly explains the adoption of the tax, however. More important, perhaps, were the political objectives, The income tax provided the government with a...

The market economy has brought tremendous wealth and equally significant income inequality to China. This article attempts to analyse the role that different types of income play in fostering inequality or the extent to which the tax system, with a notionally progressive personal income tax, may...

This chapter seeks to provide an overview of the structure and policy of Australian income taxation for tax advisors and tax students. It sets out the criteria by which the provisions and practice of the Australian income tax system, described in the following chapters, can be evaluated. It will...

In contrast to the VAT regime, income taxation in the European Union (EU) remains almost fully non-harmonised. A number of factors suggest the possibility that harmonisation of direct taxes in the EU may not be as far-fetched as many believe. The first is the compulsion of mounting economic and...