I assess the macroeconomic and redistributive effects of tax reforms aimed at increasing tax revenue in Spain. To this end, I develop a theory of entrepreneurship that mimics key facts on the wealth and income distribution in Spain. I find two reforms that raise fiscal pressure in Spain to the...

Chapter from: 'Rising Inequality in China: Challenge to a Harmonious Society', edited by Shi Li, Hiroshi Sato and Terry Sicular.

This paper analyses some fiscal aspects of mortgage debt in the EU. It first describes the main fiscal instruments that governments use to affect mortgage-financed home-ownership. In the empirical part, real mortgage debt growth is analysed for 15 EU countries using pooled regressions. Fiscal...

Wage inequality has been significantly higher in the United States than in continental European countries (CEU) since the 1970s. Moreover, this inequality gap has further widened during this period as the US has experienced a large increase in wage inequality, whereas the CEU has seen only...

Das Bundesverfassungsgericht legte mit seiner Entscheidung vom 25. September 1992 den Grundstein für einen verfassungsnahen Einkommensteuertarif. Der Grundfreibetrag, der das Existenzminimum vor dem Entzug durch Einkommensteuer verschonen soll, sollte realitätsnah bestimmt und der...

Mit höherem Grundfreibetrag und höherem maximalen Grenzsteuersatz Eckart Bomsdorf schlägt einen neuen, transparenten und flexiblen Einkommensteuertarif vor, der auch den Solidaritätszuschlag für besonders hohe Einkommen obsolet macht.