In 2013, the total tax burden in the euro area was almost back to the level prevailing at the beginning of the century. The financial and economic crisis had initially led to a reduction in the tax burden, but fiscal consolidation has generated a rise in revenue. However, there is no general...

Getting tax and transfer systems to efficiently deliver sufficient revenues to achieve macroeconomic targets, address goals in re-distribution and social welfare, encourage employment, accommodate business-competitiveness concerns and incorporate environmental issues is difficult. In Australia,...

When consumers have questions about companies' services and products, whether medical insurance, airline tickets or home appliances, they almost always encounter automated agents and other forms of customer service technology. Increasingly, tax authorities have begun to offer online...

Proxy structural vector autoregressions (SVARs) identify structural shocks in vector autoregressions (VARs) with external proxy variables that are correlated with the structural shocks of interest but uncorrelated with other structural shocks. We provide asymptotic theory for proxy SVARs when...

In order to calculate the burden of a comprehensive and progressive income tax falling on a certain income source, an apportionment scheme for the entire tax burden has to be chosen. This raises the question of how to deal with losses, which is relevant for Germany in view of the heavy losses...

In order to have optimal tax compliance in the field of tax reporting, under our current paradigm, we need clearly articulated but salient standards for record keeping. The popular belief that taxpayers do not need to keep adequate records creates a behavior distortion of noncompliance. This...

This paper discusses the response of the US federal income tax to financial innovation. Income taxation in the US and elsewhere has traditionally relied on distinction, such as the difference between fixed and contingent returns, that can be undermined by new financial products. The principal...

This article examines the optimal level of tax compliance and the optimal penalty for noncompliance in circumstances in which the substance of the tax law is uncertain that is, when the precise application of the Internal Revenue Code to a particular situation is not clear. In such situations, a...

Using the self-selection approach to tax analysis, the paper analyzes the impacts of environmental externalities on Pareto-efficient non-linear income tax, proportional commodity taxes and public expenditure. Consideration of externalities within this framework reveals intuitive insights into...

Shifting from an income tax to a consumption tax would offer major simplification advantages. Even if Congress created as many preferences and other special rules as under the existing income tax, the massive set of complications that relate to realization and to the taxation of financial...