When governments analyze tax policies aimed at attracting investment, they typically rely on a variable called the marginal effective tax rate (METR) on capital. The METR is a measure of the effective tax burden on new business investment. Recent Ontario budgets have presented estimates of the...

Ontario’s revised plan for the tax treatment of new housing under a Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) is a significant improvement over its original proposal in the 2009 Budget, with lower economic cost and less impact on homebuyers’ decisions.

While Canadian federal and provincial governments have made progress in reducing the tax burden on business investment in recent years, the 2009 budget season also saw more counterproductive tax policies that favour certain industries and disadvantage others. In this Commentary, the authors...

Canadian governments are undercutting progress in reducing corporate income and capital taxes with counter-productive policies that impose unequal tax burdens across assets and industries. The study highlights priorities for improving the tax system by reducing taxes on capital investment and...

This paper studies the effects of job creation tax credits (JCTCs) enacted by U.S. states between 1990 and 2007 to gain insights about fiscal foresight (alterations of current behavior by forwardlooking agents in anticipation of future policy changes). Nearly half of the states adopted JCTCs...

This paper studies the effects of job creation tax credits (JCTCs) enacted by U.S. states between 1990 and 2007 to gain insights about fiscal foresight (alterations of current behavior by forwardlooking agents in anticipation of future policy changes). Nearly half of the states adopted JCTCs...

Economic development incentives by state and local governments have been shown to have little positive economic effect on employment or growth. Using a political economy approach, we investigate the characteristics associated with fiscal conditions and public policies within a state. Using data...

In the next decade the Russian tax system will face tremendous challenges, due to both objective factors (significant dependence of the Russian economy on foreign trade conjuncture, etc) and a number of decisions in the field of fiscal policy. Viewing these challenges the authors examine three...

This paper reviews selected fiscal policy initiatives undertaken by US states to encourage job creation and innovation. We begin with a discussion of some general considerations about the design of tax policies summarized in a tax policy design table. Four policies are reviewed: job creation tax...

This paper reviews selected fiscal policy initiatives undertaken by US states to encourage job creation and innovation. We begin with a discussion of some general considerations about the design of tax policies summarized in a tax policy design table. Four policies are reviewed: job creation tax...