The three-point VAT increase is part of a package in which unemployment payroll taxes will be reduced. Risks to the recovery are balanced but the range of forecasts for 2007 is unusually wide. The priority for Germany is to transmit its external strength to the domestic economy, thus further...

Portugal’s economic adjustment has continued, but the contraction in output has been milder than expected. The 2012 outlook for Europe has deteriorated substantially, with growth revised down by 1¼ percentage points relative to spring forecasts. Substantially higher capital...

Slovenia is set to become the first among the new European Union member states to adopt the euro. Executive Directors emphasized the need to implement policies that increase productivity, create an efficient business environment and a flexible labor market, and improve sustainability of public...

This paper presents Portugal’s third review under the extended arrangement and request for waiver of applicability of end-March performance criteria. The government has initiated labor market reforms, privatizations, telecom sector liberalization, and improved competition framework....

Inside the actual Italian system of the finance of Italian Municipalities the ICI has a double function: allowing the Municipalities to be fiscally independent, by means of the faculty they have to modify its tax rate and its deductions, as well as the way to manage it and, according to article...

Population ageing increases fiscal pressure by increasing the aged to working-age ratio, which simultaneously reduces the growth in government revenue and increases government social outlays. This study evaluates proposed tax and economic growth policies to meet the population ageing induced...

This paper develops a new index which provides early warning signals of fiscal sustainability problems for advanced and emerging economies. Unlike previous studies, the index assesses the determinants of fiscal stress periods, covering public debt default as well as near-default events. The...

The influx of immigrants in developed countries has increased in recent decades. This, together with rapid population aging have stimulated public interest on immigration issues. Thus, some authors have argued that immigration could serve as a remedy for age-related fiscal pressures. However,...

In this article we present limits, ways of commensurate, the influence factors and effects of the fiscal pressure. Also, the processed data from the Statistical Yearbook, we presented the evolution of this rate during the period 1990-2009.

“If we ought to speak about fraud, we should equally mention the legal or legitimate fraud, but also: the illegal fraud, the international evasion, the legal evasion, the illegal evasion, the tax haven or refuge, the abuse of the right to escape the tax, the freedom of choosing the less taxed...