This paper is about acceptance building, i.e. devising a mechanism for the gradual preparation of the citizenship and the economy in order to implement a carbon tax. It draws from the experiences made in Switzerland, where voluntary approaches were combined with a CO2 tax. More generally, this...

This chapter examines government policy alternatives for protecting the environment. We compare environmentally motivated taxes and various non-tax environmental policy instruments in terms of their efficiency and distributional impacts. Much of the analysis is performed in a second-best setting...

This study analyzes the labor market impact of state and local supplements to the federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) program. Using Current Population Survey data from 1984 to 2006, the study concludes the differential impact of the state and local government supplements of the EITC on the...

This study provides a critical assessment of various fiscal policy instruments - including direct public job creation, active labour market and care policies, social protection measures and tax reforms - and their effectiveness in supporting the most vulnerable groups in the labour market....

China's tax system is characterized by the co-existence of formal taxes, sundry levies and hidden taxes. In China, multiple authorities with tax law making powers and tax administration powers exist. This leads to issues of tax jurisdiction and tax compliance such as differential treatment...

This paper examines the trial implementation of the Real Estate Tax in Shanghai through analyzing its effects on housing price, its effects on the rigid demand of housing and on housing as an investment option. It also identifies a few reform options if the government chooses to implement the...

The reason for extending the Value Added Tax (VAT) to the services sector in China is not sufficiently powerful. Just looking at the services sector, substituting the sales tax with a VAT gives rise to many difficulties in terms of system design and implementation, and the possible problems may...

The Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao hosted the State Council conference on the 1st March (2011), discussing and passing the Draft Individual Income Tax Law Amendment (‘Amendment'). The ‘Amendment' outlines changes that should be made as a part of the individual income tax reform suggesting that...