The last two centuries have seen the rise of the nation-state as the dominant political institution around the world. During this period, the colonial empires of varying duration and reach created first by the Portuguese, Spanish, and Dutch, then the French and British, then the Germans and...

The case for decentralizing taxes does not imply that these taxes need to be administered locally. Nor is it is necessarily constrained by the weakness of local tax administration. Tax decentralization and the decentralization of tax administration are related but separable decisions. As...

Local governments often set up inter-municipal consortia to provide public services jointly, rather than individually. The main benefits of joint provision include the potential for improved cost-effectiveness arising from gains from economies of scale and the internalisation of costs and/or...

In this chapter we analyze the reform and evolution of consumption taxes in Spain over recent decades, paying particular attention to the new developments stemming from the introduction of the VAT in 1986 and the modifications carried out to excise taxes in order to bring the Spanish tax system...

In this chapter we describe and assess the Spanish experience with environmental taxes in the last several decades, and formulate several suggestions for future developments in this area of tax reform. We first deal with the theoretical and policy contexts for environmental taxes and the...

The purpose of this paper is to analyze social protection in Spain and its financing, paying special attention to the possible relationship between social protection and unemployment. I will first describe the evolution of the social insurance system in Spain and compare it with that of other...

The aim of this chapter is to explain the most significant events during the lifetime of the personal income tax (PIT) which, since its introduction, has become the form of taxation most widely known by Spanish taxpayers. We will therefore describe its historical origins, analyze its...

After the death of Francisco Franco in November 1975, the political transition was adversely affected by the concurrence of a deep economic crisis and intense social conflict. The hesitant economic policies of the last Francois and the first transitional governments - up to the 1977 elections -...