The Icelandic government has launched a review of the tax system, with a view to improving its income redistribution, growth orientation, and efficiency features, as well as increasing its revenue mobilization potential. It aims at minimizing detrimental effects on employment and growth, and at...

This paper analyses the social incidence of the general sales tax (GST) in Pakistan. The main finding of the study is that contrary to widespread perception, the social incidence of the GST in Pakistan is slightly progressive. The main reason for this counterintuitive result is that most items...

The value-added tax (VAT) in China has the unusual feature that capital goods are included in the VAT base. In addition, most services are subject to the business tax, which is not creditable against VAT, but which accrues to local governments, and operates as a turnover tax. On grounds of...

The effects on trade performance of corporate taxes and the value-added tax (VAT) continue to excite controversy but have received little empirical attention. This paper uses panel data for OECD countries from 1967 to 2003 to examine the effects of these taxes on export performance, paying...

This paper reviews issues related to the introduction of a value-added tax in the United States. In particular, the paper distinguishes between European-styled value-added taxes that are levied similarly to sales taxes, and value-added taxes that are levied through the business and personal...

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Iceland's government, elected in 2013, is conducting a general review of its tax policy with a view toward making it more efficient and less distortionary.1 To this end, it has targeted VAT reform as a priority to become more reliant on consumption rather than income taxation....

A previous IMF Working Paper on value-added tax (VAT) refunds (WP/07/31, by Keen and Smith) describes the main forms of VAT noncompliance and concludes that VAT is susceptible to evasion and fraud like any other tax. This paper shows the insidious nature and extent of VAT refund fraud in...

This report reviews the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime in the Maldives and identifies policy and legal reform options to support its modernization, as well as enhancing efficiency, equity, and revenue mobilization. Despite five existing amendments to the Goods and Services Tax Act (GSTA)...