The importance of seigniorage relative to other sources of government revenue differs markedly across countries. The main theoretical implication of this paper is that countries with more unstable and polarized political systems rely more heavily on seigniorage. This result is obtained within...

There is increasing evidence that tax competition amongst EU member states has been mounting over the past two decades, and has become fiercer since the latest enlargement in 2004. The completion of monetary union is also likely to aggravate this tendency, by making other instruments of...

This paper examines the welfare implications of trade reforms in the presence of a government budget constraint. There is consensus about gains from opening up to trade. The less investigated question is, whether a coordinated tax reform, where the tariff revenue cuts are compensated with...

This paper examines the desirability and feasibility of replacing the present system of personal and corporate income, sales, excise, capital gains, import and export duties, gift and estate taxes with a single comprehensive revenue neutral Automated Payment Transaction (APT) tax. In its...

Almost unknown in 1960, the value added tax (VAT) is now found in more than 130 countries, raises around 20 percent of the world’s tax revenue, and has been the centerpiece of tax reform in many developing countries. This paper explores the causes and consequences of the remarkable rise of the...

The 1998 Spanish reform of the Personal Income Tax eliminated the 15% deduction for private medical expenditures including payments on private health insurance (PHI) policies. To avoid an undesirable increase in the demand for publicly funded health care, tax incentives to buy PHI were not...

The paper uses the 1992 household survey for Bulgaria to show poor revenue performance of the income tax structure prevailing in 1992, which did not take into account the underlying distribution of income. The paper shows that Bulgaria can benefit from a much lower and simpler income tax rate...

I propose the replacement of our current system of individual and corporate income, sales, excise, capital gains, import and export duties, gift and estate taxes with a single comprehensive “revenue neutral” Automated Payment Transaction (APT) tax. The APT tax consists of a flat rate tax...

In 2007 Slovenia launched a comprehensive reform of its tax system. This article presents an analysis of several envisaged tax reform scenarios, including the flat tax proposal, with a dynamic general equilibrium model of the Slovenian economy, linked to a microsimulation model. We focus mainly...

The Czech Republic became a Member State of the European Union in May 2004. Under the EU legislation, prior to adopting the euro the Czech Republic must therefore be an EU Member State and must have fulfilled the Maastricht convergence criteria. The Czech Republic is currently reporting an...