The tax system in any one country is, as Sandford (2000, p. 3) reminds us, the product of an eclectic and sometimes even fortuitous amalgam of factors. “Historical circumstance, constitutions and legislative procedures, customs and cultures, lethargy and the costs of change, the effects of...

Like the rest of the developed world, Australasian tax reforms in the past 30 years have exhibited many efficiency-enhancing features: lower income tax rates, tax base broadening, a change in tax mix towards indirect taxation, and increased neutrality and uniformity in tax structures. In New...

This chapter explores the Delphi technique, which is “a qualitative method for obtaining consensus among a group of experts” (Lewis-Beck et al, 2010). It usually seeks to obtain this consensus through “repeated iterations (usually by email) of anonymized opinions and of proposed compromise...

The focus of this article is on the burden imposed by all aspects of compliance with tax obligations in New Zealand. It explores the levels of research into tax compliance costs undertaken in New Zealand and the outcomes of that research, and compares this data with comparable international...

Justice Edmonds has been involved in a large number of cases which directly or indirectly involve the provisions dealing with the taxation of capital gains in Australia. It is argued that his Honour’s contribution in these cases has been considerable and significant. Above all, his judgments...

It has long been accepted that taxing consumption, property and labour can be much more efficient than taxing more mobile factors such as capital. As a result, revenue authorities have increasingly built significant parts of their tax systems upon such tax bases, and often tended to downplay the...

The manner in which capital gains are taxed in Australia (and in other countries) has undergone fundamental reform in recent years. A "new" Capital Gains Tax ("CGT") regime based on the identification of (currently) 39 CGT events was legislated in Australia with effect from 1 July 1998. In...

This paper provides a summary overview of the personal income tax–transfer reform debate in Australia. It attempts to employ a balanced approach to examine the,main issues and arguments put forward by various schools of thought with regard to tax reform. First, it explores in depth the meaning...

This paper examines the problems faced by low and middle income earners as,a result of high effective marginal tax rates ('EMTRs'). It is primarily concerned with the negative impact of these high EMTRs on workforce participation. The paper,explores some of the reasons for high EMTRs, caused by...

This article compares and contrasts the Australian Henry Review,with major tax reviews that took place at about the same time in the United Kingdom (the Mirrlees Review) and New Zealand (the Tax,Working Group Review). It suggests that the three countries share many cultural, social, economic and...