Paper for the Rust Conference July 2013 ‘Trends and Players in Tax Policy' organized by Institute for Austrian and International Tax Law Vienna WU Global Tax Policy Center together with the Research Council of Norway. It discusses trends in tax policy in the Netherlands as from 2000 (personal...

The distinction between property rules and liability rules has revolutionized our understanding of many areas of law. But scholars have long assumed that this distinction has no relevance to tax law. This assumption is flatly wrong. Tax law currently uses both property rules and liability rules,...

The repayment of indirect taxes raises questions in many parts of the world, mainly because of the so called “passing-on defense”. Brazilian Courts has given inadequate treatment to this subject, which, in fact, denies the judicial review of the tax relationship, violating the idea of rule...

On January 1, 2013, the federal estate tax regime in effect from 2001 to 2012 is scheduled to revert to its pre-2001 structure. A 35% rate will soar to a 55% rate. A $5 million exemption will plummet to $1 million. Some deductions and credits enacted in 2001 will disappear while others repealed...

In light of the UK Coalition Government's announced intention to reform APD (Air Passenger Duty), this article examines the design flaws making APD an inadequate environmental tax. By identifying the misconceived consequences and environmental inefficiencies of this blunt instrument, the need...

This article asks whether tax planning advice can ever be effectively regulated by the IRS. The article first explores whether tax advice differs in kind from other forms of legal advice. Secondly, it looks at the clear regulatory distinction between the treatment of return preparation advice...

The literature on taxes and public finance generally focuses on revenues, an easily observable and generally available variable, as the observable measure of tax policy. Still, revenues depend on many determinants other than the political will and policy objectives of the government. It is...

Tax evasion has persistently carried severe penalties, although its intended deterrence effect is highly doubtful. We can safely say that it is based on the widely shared assumption among government officials that tax evasion is among the more serious crimes. In other words, the rationale of the...