text:
Tax
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Taxation
An aspect of fiscal policy
Policies[show]
Government revenue
Tax revenue
Non-tax revenue
Tax law
Tax bracket
Tax threshold
Exemption
Credit
Deduction
Tax shift
Tax cut
Tax holiday
Tax advantage
Tax incentive
Tax reform
Tax harmonization
Tax competition
Double taxation
Representation
Unions
Medical savings account
Tax, tariff and trade
Economics[show]
Price effect
Excess burden
Tax incidence
Laffer curve
Optimal tax
Theory
Optimal capital income taxation
Collection[show]
Revenue service
Revenue stamp
Tax assessment
Taxable income
Tax lien
Tax refund
Tax shield
Tax residence
Tax preparation
Tax investigation
Tax shelter
Private tax collection
Tax farming
Noncompliance[show]
Tax avoidance
Tax evasion
Tax resistance
Tax haven
Smuggling
Black market
Transfer mispricing
Unreported employment
Tax shelter
Distribution[show]
Tax rate
Progressive
Regressive
Proportional
Types[show]
Direct
Indirect
Per unit
Ad valorem
In rem
Capital gains
Carbon
Consumption
Dividend
Ecotax
Excise
Fuel
Georgist
Gift
Gross receipts
Income
Inheritance (estate)
Land value
Payroll
Pigovian
Property
Sales
Sin
Single
Stamp
Steering
Turnover
Value-added (VAT)
Corporate profit
Excess profits
Windfall profits
Negative (income)
Flat
Wealth
International[show]
Financial transaction tax
Currency transaction tax
Tobin tax
Spahn tax
Tax equalization
Tax treaty
Permanent establishment
Transfer pricing
European Union FTT
Foreign revenue rule
Trade[show]
Custom
Duty
Tariff
Import
Export
Tariff war
Free trade
Free trade zone
Trade agreement
Religious[show]
Church tax
Eight per thousand
Teind
Tithe
Fiscus Judaicus
Leibzoll
Temple tax
Tolerance tax
Jizya
Kharaj
Khums
Nisab
Zakat
By country[show]
List of countries by tax rates
Tax revenues as %GDP
Albania
Algeria
Argentina
Australia
Azerbaijan
Bangladesh
Bhutan
Brazil
Bulgaria
BVI
Canada
China
Colombia
Croatia
Denmark
France
Germany
Greece
Hong Kong
Iceland
India
Indonesia
Iran
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Japan
Kazakhstan
Lithuania
Malta
Namibia
Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway
Pakistan
Palestine
Peru
Philippines
Poland
Russia
Singapore
South Africa
Sweden
Switzerland
Taiwan
Tanzania
United Kingdom
United States
Uruguay
v
t
e
A tax (from the Latin taxo) is a mandatory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed upon a taxpayer (an individual or other legal entity) by a governmental organization in order to fund various public expenditures.[1] A failure to pay, along with evasion of or resistance to taxation, is punishable by law. Taxes consist of direct or indirect taxes and may be paid in money or as its labour equivalent.
Most countries have a tax system in place to pay for public/common/agreed national needs and government functions: some levy a flat percentage rate of taxation on personal annual income, some on a scale based on annual income amounts, and some countries impose almost no taxation at all, or a very low tax rate for a certain area of taxation. Some countries charge a tax both on corporate income and dividends; this is often referred to as double taxation as the individual shareholder(s) receiving this payment from the company will also be levied some tax on that personal income.
Contents
[hide]
1 Overview
2 Purposes and effects
3 Types
3.1 Income
3.1.1 Income tax
3.1.2 Negative income
3.1.3 Capital gains
3.1.4 Corporate
3.2 Social security contributions
3.3 Payroll or workforce
3.4 Property
3.4.1 Property taxes
3.4.2 Inheritance
3.4.3 Expatriation
3.4.4 Transfer
3.4.5 Wealth (net worth)
3.5 Goods and services
3.5.1 Value added
3.5.2 Sales
3.5.3 Excises
3.6 Tariff
3.7 Other
3.7.1 License fees
3.7.2 Poll
3.7.3 Other
3.8 Descriptive labels
3.8.1 Ad valorem and per unit
3.8.2 Consumption
3.8.3 Environmental
3.8.4 Proportional, progressive, regressive, and lump-sum
3.8.5 Direct and indirect
3.9 Fees and effective
4 History
4.1 Trends
4.2 Forms
5 Economic effects
5.1 Incidence
5.2 Increased economic welfare
5.2.1 Government spending
5.2.2 Pigovian
5.2.3 Reduced inequality
5.3 Reduced economic welfare
5.3.1 Cost of compliance
5.3.2 Deadweight costs
5.3.3 Perverse incentives
5.3.4 Reduced production
6 In developing countries
6.1 Key facts
6.2 Tax administration in developing countries
6.3 Summary
7 Views
7.1 Support
7.2 Opposition
7.3 Socialist view
7.4 Choice
7.5 Geoist View
8 Theories
8.1 Laffer curve
8.2 Optimal
8.3 Rates
9 See also
9.1 By country or region
10 References
11 Further reading
12 External links
Overview[edit]
Pieter Brueghel the Younger, The tax collector's office, 1640
The legal definition, and the economic definition of taxes differ in some ways such as economists do not regard many transfers to governments as taxes. For example, some transfers to the public sector are comparable to prices. Examples include, tuition at public universities, and fees for utilities provided by local governments. Governments also obtain resources by "creating" money and coins (for example, by printing bills and by minting coins), through voluntary gifts (for example, contributions to public universities and museums), by imposing penalties (such as traffic fines), by borrowing, and also by confiscating wealth. From the view of economists, a tax is a non-penal, yet compulsory transfer of resources from the private to the public sector, levied on a basis of predetermined criteria and without reference to specific benefit received.
In modern taxation systems, governments levy taxes in money; but in-kind and corvée taxation are characteristic of traditional or pre-capitalist states and their functional equivalents. The method of taxation and the government expenditure of taxes raised is often highly debated in politics and economics. Tax collection is performed by a government agency such as the Ghana revenue authority, Canada Revenue Agency, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in the United States, Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) in the United Kingdom or Federal Tax Service in Russia. When taxes are not fully paid, the state may impose civil penalties (such as fines or forfeiture) or criminal penalties (such as incarceration) on the non-paying entity or individual.[2]
Purposes and effects[edit]
The levying of taxes aims to raise revenue to fund governing and/or to alter prices in order to affect demand. States and their functional equivalents throughout history have used money provided by taxation to carry out many functions. Some of these include expenditures on economic infrastructure (roads, public transportation, sanitation, legal systems, public safety, education,[3] health-care systems), military, scientific research, culture and the arts, public works, distribution, data collection and dissemination, public insurance, and the operation of government itself. A government's ability to raise taxes is called its fiscal capacity.
When expenditures exceed tax revenue, a government accumulates debt. A portion of taxes may be used to service past debts. Governments also use taxes to fund welfare and public services. These services can include education systems, pensions for the elderly, unemployment benefits, and public transportation. Energy, water and waste management systems are also common public utilities.
According to the proponents of the chartalist theory of money creation, taxes are not needed for government revenue, as long as the government in question is able to issue fiat money. According to this view, the purpose of taxation is to maintain the stability of the currency, express public policy regarding the distribution of wealth, subsidizing certain industries or population groups or isolating the costs of certain benefits, such as highways or social security.[4]
Effects can be divided in two fundamental categories:
Taxes cause an income effect because they reduce purchasing power to taxpayers.
Taxes cause a substitution effect when taxation causes a substitution between taxed goods and untaxed goods.
Substitution effect and income effect with a taxation on y good.
If we consider, for instance, two normal goods, x and y, whose prices are respectively px and py and an individual budget constraint given by the equation xpx + ypy = Y, where Y is the income, the slope of the budget constraint, in a graph where is represented good x on the vertical axis and good y on the horizontal axes, is equal to -py/px . The initial equilibrium is in the point (C), in which budget constraint and indifference curve are tangent, introducing an ad valorem tax on the y good (budget constraint: pxx + py(1 + τ)y = Y) , the budget constraint's slope becomes equal to -py(1 + τ)/px. The new equilibrium is now in the tangent point (A) with a lower indifferent curve.
As can be noticed the tax's introduction causes two consequences:
It changes the consumers' real income (less purchasing power)
It raises the relative price of y good.
The income effect shows the variation of y good quantity given by the change of real income.The substitution effect shows the variation of y good determined by relative prices' variation. This kind of taxation (that causes substitution effect) can be considered distortionary.
Budget's constraint shift after an introduction of a lump sum tax or a general tax on consumption or a proportional income tax.
Another example can be the Introduction of an income lump-sum tax (xpx + ypy = Y - T), with a parallel shift downward of the budget constraint, can be produced a higher revenue with the same loss of consumers' utility compared with the property tax case, from another point of view, the same revenue can be produced with a lower utility sacrifice. The lower utility (with the same revenue) or the lower revenue (with the same utility) given by a distortionary tax are called excess pressure. The same result, reached with an income lump-sum tax, can be obtained with these following types of taxes (all of them cause only a budget constraint's shift without causing a substitution effect), the budget constraint's slope remains the same (-px/py):
A general tax on consumption: (Budget constraint: px(1 + τ)x + py(1 + τ)y = Y)
A proportional income tax: (Budget constraint: xpx + ypy = Y(1 - t))
When the t and τ rates are chosen respecting this equation (where t is the rate of income tax and tau is the consumption tax's rate):
1 1 + τ = 1 − t ⇒ t = τ 1 + τ {\displaystyle {\frac {1}{1+\tau }}=1-t\Rightarrow t={\frac {\tau }{1+\tau }}}
the effects of the two taxes are the same.
A tax effectively changes relative prices of products. Therefore, most[quantify] economists, especially neoclassical economists, argue that taxation creates market distortion and results in economic inefficiency unless there are (positive or negative) externalities associated with the activities that are taxed that need to be internalized to reach an efficient market outcome.[3] They have therefore sought to identify the kind of tax system that would minimize this distortion.[5] Recent[when?] scholarship suggests that in the United States of America, the federal government effectively taxes investments in higher education more heavily than it subsidizes higher education, thereby contributing to a shortage of skilled workers and unusually high differences in pre-tax earnings between highly educated and less-educated workers.[citation needed]
Taxes can even have effects on labour offer: we can consider a model in which the consumer chose the amount of hours spent working and the amount spent in consumption. Let us suppose that only one good exists and no income is saved.
Consumers have a given amount of hours (H) that is divided between work (L) and free time (F = H - L). The hourly wage is called w and it tells us the free time's opportunity cost, i.e. the income to which the individual renounces consuming an additional hour of free time. Consumption and hours of work have a positive relationship, more hours of work mean more earnings and, assuming that workers don't save money, more earnings imply an increase in consumption (Y = C = wL). Free time and consumption can be considered as two normal goods (workers have to decide between working one hour more, that would mean consuming more, or having one more hour of free time) and the budget constraint is negative inclined (Y = w(H - F)). The indifference curve related to these two goods has a negative slope and free time becomes more and more important with high levels of consumption. It's because a high level of consumption means that people are already spending many hours working, so, in this situation, they need more free time than consume and it implies that they have to be paid with a higher salary to work an additional hour. A proportional income tax, changing budget constraint's slope (now Y = w(1 - t)(H - F)), implies both substitution and income effects. The problem now is that the two effects go in opposite ways: income effect tells us that, with an income tax, the consumer feels poorer and for this reason he wants to work more, causing an increase in labour offer. On the other hand, substitution effect tells us that free time, being a normal good, is now more convenient compared to consume and it implies a decrease in labour offer. Therefore, the total effect can be both an increase or a decrease of labour offer, depending on indifference curve's shape.
The Laffer curve. In this case, the critical point is at 70% of tax rate. Revenue increases[6] until this peak, then it starts decreasing.
The Laffer curve depicts the amount of government revenue as a function of rates of taxation. It shows that after a critical rate, the government revenue starts decreasing as a consequence of labour offer's fall. This theory supports that, if the system is situated after that critical point, a decrease in tax rate should imply a rise in labour offer that in turn would involve an increase in government revenue.
Governments use different kinds of taxes and vary the tax rates. They do this in order to distribute the tax burden among individuals or classes of the population involved in taxable activities, such as the business sector, or to redistribute resources between individuals or classes in the population. Historically,[when?] taxes on the poor supported the nobility; modern social-security systems aim to support the poor, the disabled, or the retired by taxes on those who are still working. In addition, taxes are applied to fund foreign aid and military ventures, to influence the macroeconomic performance of the economy (a government's strategy for doing this is called its fiscal policy; see also tax exemption), or to modify patterns of consumption or employment within an economy, by making some classes of transaction more or less attractive.
A state's tax system often[quantify] reflects its communal values and the values of those in current political power. To create a system of taxation, a state must make choices regarding the distribution of the tax burden—who will pay taxes and how much they will pay—and how the taxes collected will be spent. In democratic nations where the public elects those in charge of establishing or administering the tax system, these choices reflect the type of community that the public wishes to create. In countries where the public does not have a significant amount of influence over the system of taxation, that system may reflect more closely the values of those in power.
All large businesses incur administrative costs in the process of delivering revenue collected from customers to the suppliers of the goods or services being purchased. Taxation is no different; the resource collected from the public through taxation is always greater than the amount which can be used by the government.[citation needed] The difference is called the compliance cost and includes (for example) the labour cost and other expenses incurred in complying with tax laws and rules. The collection of a tax in order to spend it on a specified purpose, for example collecting a tax on alcohol to pay directly for alcoholism-rehabilitation centres, is called hypothecation. Finance ministers often dislike this practice, since it reduces their freedom of action. Some economic theorists regard hypothecation as intellectually dishonest since, in reality, money is fungible. Furthermore, it often happens that taxes or excises initially levied to fund some specific government programs are then later diverted to the government general fund. In some cases, such taxes are collected in fundamentally inefficient ways, for example, though highway tolls.[citation needed]
Since governments also resolve commercial disputes, especially in countries with common law, similar arguments are sometimes used to justify a sales tax or value added tax. Some (libertarians, for example) portray most or all forms of taxes as immoral due to their involuntary (and therefore eventually coercive/violent) nature. The most extreme anti-tax view, anarcho-capitalism, holds that all social services should be voluntarily bought by the person(s) using them.
Types[edit]
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) publishes an analysis of tax systems of member countries. As part of such analysis, OECD developed a definition and system of classification of internal taxes,[7] generally followed below. In addition, many countries impose taxes (tariffs) on the import of goods.
Income[edit]
Income tax[edit]
Main article: Income tax
Many jurisdictions tax the income of individuals and business entities, including corporations. Generally, the tax is imposed on net profits from business, net gains, and other income. Computation of income subject to tax may be determined under accounting principles used in the jurisdiction, which may be modified or replaced by tax law principles in the jurisdiction. The incidence of taxation varies by system, and some systems may be viewed as progressive or regressive. Rates of tax may vary or be constant (flat) by income level. Many systems allow individuals certain personal allowances and other nonbusiness reductions to taxable income, although business deductions tend to be favored over personal deductions.[5]
Personal income tax is often collected on a pay-as-you-earn basis, with small corrections made soon after the end of the tax year. These corrections take one of two forms: payments to the government, for taxpayers who have not paid enough during the tax year; and tax refunds from the government for those who have overpaid. Income tax systems will often have deductions available that lessen the total tax liability by reducing total taxable income. They may allow losses from one type of income to be counted against another. For example, a loss on the stock market may be deducted against taxes paid on wages. Other tax systems may isolate the loss, such that business losses can only be deducted against business tax by carrying forward the loss to later tax years.
Negative income[edit]
Main article: Negative income tax
In economics, a negative income tax (abbreviated NIT) is a progressive income tax system where people earning below a certain amount receive supplemental pay from the government instead of paying taxes to the government.
Capital gains[edit]
Main article: Capital gains tax
Most jurisdictions imposing an income tax treat capital gains as part of income subject to tax. Capital gain is generally a gain on sale of capital assets—that is, those assets not held for sale in the ordinary course of business. Capital assets include personal assets in many jurisdictions. Some jurisdictions provide preferential rates of tax or only partial taxation for capital gains. Some jurisdictions impose different rates or levels of capital gains taxation based on the length of time the asset was held. Because tax rates are often much lower for capital gains than for ordinary income, there is widespread controversy and dispute about the proper definition of capital. Some tax scholars have argued that differences in the ways different kinds of capital and investment are taxed contribute to economic distortions.[5]
Corporate[edit]
Main article: Corporate tax
Corporate tax refers to income, capital, net worth, or other taxes imposed on corporations. Rates of tax and the taxable base for corporations may differ from those for individuals or other taxable persons.
Social security contributions[edit]
Many countries provide publicly funded retirement or health care systems.[8] In connection with these systems, the country typically requires employers and/or employees to make compulsory payments.[9] These payments are often computed by reference to wages or earnings from self-employment. Tax rates are generally fixed, but a different rate may be imposed on employers than on employees.[10] Some systems provide an upper limit on earnings subject to the tax. A few systems provide that the tax is payable only on wages above a particular amount. Such upper or lower limits may apply for retirement but not health care components of the tax. Some have argued that such taxes on wages are a form of "forced savings" and not really a tax, while others point to redistribution through such systems between generations (from newer cohorts to older cohorts) and across income levels (from higher income levels to lower income levels) which suggest that such programs are really tax and spending programs.[5] Some tax scholars argue that supporting social security programs exclusively through taxes on wages, rather than through broader taxes that include capital, creates distortions and underinvestment in human capital, since the returns to such investments will be taxes as wages.[5]
Payroll or workforce[edit]
Main article: Payroll tax
Unemployment and similar taxes are often imposed on employers based on total payroll. These taxes may be imposed in both the country and sub-country levels.[11]
Property[edit]
Recurrent property taxes may be imposed on immovable property (real property) and some classes of movable property. In addition, recurrent taxes may be imposed on net wealth of individuals or corporations.[12] Many jurisdictions impose estate tax, gift tax or other inheritance taxes on property at death or gift transfer. Some jurisdictions impose taxes on financial or capital transactions.
Property taxes[edit]
Main articles: Property tax and Land value tax
A property tax (or millage tax) is an ad valorem tax levy on the value of property that the owner of the property is required to pay to a government in which the property is situated. Multiple jurisdictions may tax the same property. There are three general varieties of property: land, improvements to land (immovable man-made things, e.g. buildings) and personal property (movable things). Real estate or realty is the combination of land and improvements to land.
Property taxes are usually charged on a recurrent basis (e.g., yearly). A common type of property tax is an annual charge on the ownership of real estate, where the tax base is the estimated value of the property. For a period of over 150 years from 1695 a window tax was levied in England, with the result that one can still see listed buildings with windows bricked up in order to save their owners money. A similar tax on hearths existed in France and elsewhere, with similar results. The two most common type of event driven property taxes are stamp duty, charged upon change of ownership, and inheritance tax, which is imposed in many countries on the estates of the deceased.
In contrast with a tax on real estate (land and buildings), a land value tax (or LVT) is levied only on the unimproved value of the land ("land" in this instance may mean either the economic term, i.e., all natural resources, or the natural resources associated with specific areas of the Earth's surface: "lots" or "land parcels"). Proponents of land value tax argue that it is economically justified, as it will not deter production, distort market mechanisms or otherwise create deadweight losses the way other taxes do.[13]
When real estate is held by a higher government unit or some other entity not subject to taxation by the local government, the taxing authority may receive a payment in lieu of taxes to compensate it for some or all of the foregone tax revenues.
In many jurisdictions (including many American states), there is a general tax levied periodically on residents who own personal property (personalty) within the jurisdiction. Vehicle and boat registration fees are subsets of this kind of tax. The tax is often designed with blanket coverage and large exceptions for things like food and clothing. Household goods are often exempt when kept or used within the household.[14] Any otherwise non-exempt object can lose its exemption if regularly kept outside the household.[14] Thus, tax collectors often monitor newspaper articles for stories about wealthy people who have lent art to museums for public display, because the artworks have then become subject to personal property tax.[14] If an artwork had to be sent to another state for some touch-ups, it may have become subject to personal property tax in that state as well.[14]
Inheritance[edit]
Main article: Inheritance tax
Inheritance tax, estate tax, and death tax or duty are the names given to various taxes which arise on the death of an individual. In United States tax law, there is a distinction between an estate tax and an inheritance tax: the former taxes the personal representatives of the deceased, while the latter taxes the beneficiaries of the estate. However, this distinction does not apply in other jurisdictions; for example, if using this terminology UK inheritance tax would be an estate tax.
Expatriation[edit]
Main article: Expatriation tax
An expatriation tax is a tax on individuals who renounce their citizenship or residence. The tax is often imposed based on a deemed disposition of all the individual's property. One example is the United States under the American Jobs Creation Act, where any individual who has a net worth of $2 million or an average income-tax liability of $127,000 who renounces his or her citizenship and leaves the country is automatically assumed to have done so for tax avoidance reasons and is subject to a higher tax rate.[15]
Transfer[edit]
Main article: Transfer tax
Historically, in many countries, a contract needs to have a stamp affixed to make it valid. The charge for the stamp is either a fixed amount or a percentage of the value of the transaction. In most countries, the stamp has been abolished but stamp duty remains. Stamp duty is levied in the UK on the purchase of shares and securities, the issue of bearer instruments, and certain partnership transactions. Its modern derivatives, stamp duty reserve tax and stamp duty land tax, are respectively charged on transactions involving securities and land. Stamp duty has the effect of discouraging speculative purchases of assets by decreasing liquidity. In the United States, transfer tax is often charged by the state or local government and (in the case of real property transfers) can be tied to the recording of the deed or other transfer documents.
Wealth (net worth)[edit]
Main article: Wealth tax
Some countries' governments will require declaration of the tax payers' balance sheet (assets and liabilities), and from that exact a tax on net worth (assets minus liabilities), as a percentage of the net worth, or a percentage of the net worth exceeding a certain level. The tax may be levied on "natural" or legal "persons".
Goods and services[edit]
Value added[edit]
Main article: Value added tax
A value added tax (VAT), also known as Goods and Services Tax (G.S.T), Single Business Tax, or Turnover Tax in some countries, applies the equivalent of a sales tax to every operation that creates value. To give an example, sheet steel is imported by a machine manufacturer. That manufacturer will pay the VAT on the purchase price, remitting that amount to the government. The manufacturer will then transform the steel into a machine, selling the machine for a higher price to a wholesale distributor. The manufacturer will collect the VAT on the higher price, but will remit to the government only the excess related to the "value added" (the price over the cost of the sheet steel). The wholesale distributor will then continue the process, charging the retail distributor the VAT on the entire price to the retailer, but remitting only the amount related to the distribution mark-up to the government. The last VAT amount is paid by the eventual retail customer who cannot recover any of the previously paid VAT. For a VAT and sales tax of identical rates, the total tax paid is the same, but it is paid at differing points in the process.
VAT is usually administrated by requiring the company to complete a VAT return, giving details of VAT it has been charged (referred to as input tax) and VAT it has charged to others (referred to as output tax). The difference between output tax and input tax is payable to the Local Tax Authority.
Many tax authorities have introduced automated VAT which has increased accountability and auditability, by utilizing computer-systems, thereby also enabling anti-cybercrime offices as well.[citation needed]
Sales[edit]
Main article: Sales tax
Sales taxes are levied when a commodity is sold to its final consumer. Retail organizations contend that such taxes discourage retail sales. The question of whether they are generally progressive or regressive is a subject of much current debate. People with higher incomes spend a lower proportion of them, so a flat-rate sales tax will tend to be regressive. It is therefore common to exempt food, utilities and other necessities from sales taxes, since poor people spend a higher proportion of their incomes on these commodities, so such exemptions make the tax more progressive. This is the classic "You pay for what you spend" tax, as only those who spend money on non-exempt (i.e. luxury) items pay the tax.
A small number of U.S. states rely entirely on sales taxes for state revenue, as those states do not levy a state income tax. Such states tend to have a moderate to large amount of tourism or inter-state travel that occurs within their borders, allowing the state to benefit from taxes from people the state would otherwise not tax. In this way, the state is able to reduce the tax burden on its citizens. The U.S. states that do not levy a state income tax are Alaska, Tennessee, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas,[16] Washington state, and Wyoming. Additionally, New Hampshire and Tennessee levy state income taxes only on dividends and interest income. Of the above states, only Alaska and New Hampshire do not levy a state sales tax. Additional information can be obtained at the Federation of Tax Administrators website.
In the United States, there is a growing movement[17] for the replacement of all federal payroll and income taxes (both corporate and personal) with a national retail sales tax and monthly tax rebate to households of citizens and legal resident aliens. The tax proposal is named FairTax. In Canada, the federal sales tax is called the Goods and Services tax (GST) and now stands at 5%. The provinces of British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Prince Edward Island also have a provincial sales tax [PST]. The provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland & Labrador, and Ontario have harmonized their provincial sales taxes with the GST—Harmonized Sales Tax [HST], and thus is a full VAT. The province of Quebec collects the Quebec Sales Tax [QST] which is based on the GST with certain differences. Most businesses can claim back the GST, HST and QST they pay, and so effectively it is the final consumer who pays the tax.
Excises[edit]
Main article: Excise
An excise duty is an indirect tax imposed upon goods during the process of their manufacture, production or distribution, and is usually proportionate to their quantity or value. Excise duties were first introduced into England in the year 1643, as part of a scheme of revenue and taxation devised by parliamentarian John Pym and approved by the Long Parliament. These duties consisted of charges on beer, ale, cider, cherry wine and tobacco, to which list were afterwards added paper, soap, candles, malt, hops, and sweets. The basic principle of excise duties was that they were taxes on the production, manufacture or distribution of articles which could not be taxed through the customs house, and revenue derived from that source is called excise revenue proper. The fundamental conception of the term is that of a tax on articles produced or manufactured in a country. In the taxation of such articles of luxury as spirits, beer, tobacco, and cigars, it has been the practice to place a certain duty on the importation of these articles (a customs duty).[18]
Excises (or exemptions from them) are also used to modify consumption patterns of a certain area (social engineering). For example, a high excise is used to discourage alcohol consumption, relative to other goods. This may be combined with hypothecation if the proceeds are then used to pay for the costs of treating illness caused by alcohol abuse. Similar taxes may exist on tobacco, pornography, etc., and they may be collectively referred to as "sin taxes". A carbon tax is a tax on the consumption of carbon-based non-renewable fuels, such as petrol, diesel-fuel, jet fuels, and natural gas. The object is to reduce the release of carbon into the atmosphere. In the United Kingdom, vehicle excise duty is an annual tax on vehicle ownership.
Tariff[edit]
Main article: Tariff
An import or export tariff (also called customs duty or impost) is a charge for the movement of goods through a political border. Tariffs discourage trade, and they may be used by governments to protect domestic industries. A proportion of tariff revenues is often hypothecated to pay government to maintain a navy or border police. The classic ways of cheating a tariff are smuggling or declaring a false value of goods. Tax, tariff and trade rules in modern times are usually set together because of their common impact on industrial policy, investment policy, and agricultural policy. A trade bloc is a group of allied countries agreeing to minimize or eliminate tariffs against trade with each other, and possibly to impose protective tariffs on imports from outside the bloc. A customs union has a common external tariff, and the participating countries share the revenues from tariffs on goods entering the customs union.
In some societies, tariffs also could be imposed by local authorities on the movement of goods between regions (or via specific internal gateways). A notable example is the likin, which became an important revenue source for local governments in the late Qing China.
Other[edit]
License fees[edit]
Occupational taxes or license fees may be imposed on businesses or individuals engaged in certain businesses. Many jurisdictions impose a tax on vehicles.
Poll[edit]
Main article: Poll tax
A poll tax, also called a per capita tax, or capitation tax, is a tax that levies a set amount per individual. It is an example of the concept of fixed tax. One of the earliest taxes mentioned in the Bible of a half-shekel per annum from each adult Jew (Ex. 30:11–16) was a form of poll tax. Poll taxes are administratively cheap because they are easy to compute and collect and difficult to cheat. Economists have considered poll taxes economically efficient because people are presumed to be in fixed supply and poll taxes therefore do not lead to economic distortions. However, poll taxes are very unpopular because poorer people pay a higher proportion of their income than richer people.[5] In addition, the supply of people is in fact not fixed over time: on average, couples will choose to have fewer children if a poll tax is imposed.[19][not in citation given] The introduction of a poll tax in medieval England was the primary cause of the 1381 Peasants' Revolt. Scotland was the first to be used to test the new poll tax in 1989 with England and Wales in 1990. The change from a progressive local taxation based on property values to a single-rate form of taxation regardless of ability to pay (the Community Charge, but more popularly referred to as the Poll Tax), led to widespread refusal to pay and to incidents of civil unrest, known colloquially as the 'Poll Tax Riots'.
Other[edit]
Some types of taxes have been proposed but not actually adopted in any major jurisdiction. These include:
Bank tax
Financial transaction taxes including currency transaction taxes
Descriptive labels[edit]
Ad valorem and per unit[edit]
Main articles: Ad valorem tax and Per unit tax
An ad valorem tax is one where the tax base is the value of a good, service, or property. Sales taxes, tariffs, property taxes, inheritance taxes, and value added taxes are different types of ad valorem tax. An ad valorem tax is typically imposed at the time of a transaction (sales tax or value added tax (VAT)) but it may be imposed on an annual basis (property tax) or in connection with another significant event (inheritance tax or tariffs).
In contrast to ad valorem taxation is a per unit tax, where the tax base is the quantity of something, regardless of its price. An excise tax is an example.
Consumption[edit]
Main article: Consumption tax
Consumption tax refers to any tax on non-investment spending, and can be implemented by means of a sales tax, consumer value added tax, or by modifying an income tax to allow for unlimited deductions for investment or savings.
Environmental[edit]
See also: Ecotax, Gas Guzzler Tax, Polluter pays principle, and Pigovian tax
This includes natural resources consumption tax, greenhouse gas tax (Carbon tax), "sulfuric tax", and others. The stated purpose is to reduce the environmental impact by repricing. Economists describe environmental impacts as negative externalities. As early as 1920, Arthur Pigou suggested a tax to deal with externalities (see also the section on Increased economic welfare below). The proper implementation of environmental taxes has been the subject of a long lasting debate.
Proportional, progressive, regressive, and lump-sum[edit]
An important feature of tax systems is the percentage of the tax burden as it relates to income or consumption. The terms progressive, regressive, and proportional are used to describe the way the rate progresses from low to high, from high to low, or proportionally. The terms describe a distribution effect, which can be applied to any type of tax system (income or consumption) that meets the definition.
A progressive tax is a tax imposed so that the effective tax rate increases as the amount to which the rate is applied increases.
The opposite of a progressive tax is a regressive tax, where the effective tax rate decreases as the amount to which the rate is applied increases. This effect is commonly produced where means testing is used to withdraw tax allowances or state benefits.
In between is a proportional tax, where the effective tax rate is fixed, while the amount to which the rate is applied increases.
A lump-sum tax is a tax that is a fixed amount, no matter the change in circumstance of the taxed entity. This in actuality is a regressive tax as those with lower income must use higher percentage of their income than those with higher income and therefore the effect of the tax reduces as a function of income.
The terms can also be used to apply meaning to the taxation of select consumption, such as a tax on luxury goods and the exemption of basic necessities may be described as having progressive effects as it increases a tax burden on high end consumption and decreases a tax burden on low end consumption.[20][21][22]
Direct and indirect[edit]
Main articles: Direct tax and Indirect tax
Taxes are sometimes referred to as "direct taxes" or "indirect taxes". The meaning of these terms can vary in different contexts, which can sometimes lead to confusion. An economic definition, by Atkinson, states that "...direct taxes may be adjusted to the individual characteristics of the taxpayer, whereas indirect taxes are levied on transactions irrespective of the circumstances of buyer or seller."[23] According to this definition, for example, income tax is "direct", and sales tax is "indirect". In law, the terms may have different meanings. In U.S. constitutional law, for instance, direct taxes refer to poll taxes and property taxes, which are based on simple existence or ownership. Indirect taxes are imposed on events, rights, privileges, and activities.[24] Thus, a tax on the sale of property would be considered an indirect tax, whereas the tax on simply owning the property itself would be a direct tax.
Fees and effective[edit]
Governments may charge user fees, tolls, or other types of assessments in exchange of particular goods, services, or use of property. These are generally not considered taxes, as long as they are levied as payment for a direct benefit to the individual paying.[25] Such fees include:
Tolls: a fee charged to travel via a road, bridge, tunnel, canal, waterway or other transportation facilities. Historically tolls have been used to pay for public bridge, road and tunnel projects. They have also been used in privately constructed transport links. The toll is likely to be a fixed charge, possibly graduated for vehicle type, or for distance on long routes.
User fees, such as those charged for use of parks or other government owned facilities.
Ruling fees charged by governmental agencies to make determinations in particular situations.
Some scholars refer to certain economic effects as taxes, though they are not levies imposed by governments. These include:
Inflation tax: the economic disadvantage suffered by holders of cash and cash equivalents in one denomination of currency due to the effects of expansionary monetary policy[26]
Financial repression: Government policies such as interest rate caps on government debt, financial regulations such as reserve requirements and capital controls, and barriers to entry in markets where the government owns or controls businesses.[27]
History[edit]
Egyptian peasants seized for non-payment of taxes. (Pyramid Age)
The first known system of taxation was in Ancient Egypt around 3000–2800 BC in the First Dynasty of Egypt of the Old Kingdom of Egypt.[28] The earliest and most widespread form of taxation was the corvée and tithe. The corvée was forced labour provided to the state by peasants too poor to pay other forms of taxation (labour in ancient Egyptian is a synonym for taxes).[29] Records from the time document that the Pharaoh would conduct a biennial tour of the kingdom, collecting tithes from the people. Other records are granary receipts on limestone flakes and papyrus.[30] Early taxation is also described in the Bible. In Genesis (chapter 47, verse 24 – the New International Version), it states "But when the crop comes in, give a fifth of it to Pharaoh. The other four-fifths you may keep as seed for the fields and as food for yourselves and your households and your children". Joseph was telling the people of Egypt how to divide their crop, providing a portion to the Pharaoh. A share (20%) of the crop was the tax (in this case, a special rather than an ordinary tax, as it was gathered against an expected famine).[31]
In the Persian Empire, a regulated and sustainable tax system was introduced by Darius I the Great in 500 BC;[32] the Persian system of taxation was tailored to each Satrapy (the area ruled by a Satrap or provincial governor). At differing times, there were between 20 and 30 Satrapies in the Empire and each was assessed according to its supposed productivity. It was the responsibility of the Satrap to collect the due amount and to send it to the treasury, after deducting his expenses (the expenses and the power of deciding precisely how and from whom to raise the money in the province, offer maximum opportunity for rich pickings). The quantities demanded from the various provinces gave a vivid picture of their economic potential. For instance, Babylon was assessed for the highest amount and for a startling mixture of commodities; 1,000 silver talents and four months supply of food for the army. India, a province fabled for its gold, was to supply gold dust equal in value to the very large amount of 4,680 silver talents. Egypt was known for the wealth of its crops; it was to be the granary of the Persian Empire (and, later, of the Roman Empire) and was required to provide 120,000 measures of grain in addition to 700 talents of silver.[33] This tax was exclusively levied on Satrapies based on their lands, productive capacity and tribute levels.[34]
The Rosetta Stone, a tax concession issued by Ptolemy V in 196 BC and written in three languages "led to the most famous decipherment in history—the cracking of hieroglyphics".[35]
Islamic rulers imposed jizya (a poll tax on conquered non-Muslims). In India this practice began in the 11th century.
Trends[edit]
Numerous records of government tax collection in Europe since at least the 17th century are still available today. But taxation levels are hard to compare to the size and flow of the economy since production numbers are not as readily available. Government expenditures and revenue in France during the 17th century went from about 24.30 million livres in 1600–10 to about 126.86 million livres in 1650–59 to about 117.99 million livres in 1700–10 when government debt had reached 1.6 billion livres. In 1780–89, it reached 421.50 million livres.[36] Taxation as a percentage of production of final goods may have reached 15–20% during the 17th century in places such as France, the Netherlands, and Scandinavia. During the war-filled years of the eighteenth and early nineteenth century, tax rates in Europe increased dramatically as war became more expensive and governments became more centralized and adept at gathering taxes. This increase was greatest in England, Peter Mathias and Patrick O'Brien found that the tax burden increased by 85% over this period. Another study confirmed this number, finding that per capita tax revenues had grown almost sixfold over the eighteenth century, but that steady economic growth had made the real burden on each individual only double over this period before the industrial revolution. Effective tax rates were higher in Britain than France the years before the French Revolution, twice in per capita income comparison, but they were mostly placed on international trade. In France, taxes were lower but the burden was mainly on landowners, individuals, and internal trade and thus created far more resentment.[37]
Taxation as a percentage of GDP 2016 was 45.9% in Denmark, 45.3% in France, 33.2% in the United Kingdom, 26% in the United States, and among all OECD members an average of 34.3%..[38][39]
Forms[edit]
In monetary economies prior to fiat banking, a critical form of taxation was seigniorage, the tax on the creation of money.
Other obsolete forms of taxation include:
Scutage, which is paid in lieu of military service; strictly speaking, it is a commutation of a non-tax obligation rather than a tax as such but functioning as a tax in practice.
Tallage, a tax on feudal dependents.
Tithe, a tax-like payment (one tenth of one's earnings or agricultural produce), paid to the Church (and thus too specific to be a tax in strict technical terms). This should not be confused with the modern practice of the same name which is normally voluntary.
(Feudal) aids, a type of tax or due that was paid by a vassal to his lord during feudal times.
Danegeld, a medieval land tax originally raised to pay off raiding Danes and later used to fund military expenditures.
Carucage, a tax which replaced the danegeld in England.
Tax farming, the principle of assigning the responsibility for tax revenue collection to private citizens or groups.
Socage, a feudal tax system based on land rent.
Burgage, a feudal tax system based on land rent.
Some principalities taxed windows, doors, or cabinets to reduce consumption of imported glass and hardware. Armoires, hutches, and wardrobes were employed to evade taxes on doors and cabinets. In some circumstances, taxes are also used to enforce public policy like congestion charge (to cut road traffic and encourage public transport) in London. In Tsarist Russia, taxes were clamped on beards. Today, one of the most-complicated taxation systems worldwide is in Germany. Three quarters of the world's taxation literature refers to the German system.[citation needed] Under the German system, there are 118 laws, 185 forms, and 96,000 regulations, spending €3.7 billion to collect the income tax.[citation needed] In the United States, the IRS has about 1,177 forms and instructions,[40] 28.4111 megabytes of Internal Revenue Code[41] which contained 3.8 million words as of 1 February 2010,[42] numerous tax regulations in the Code of Federal Regulations,[43] and suppmentary material in the Internal Revenue Bulletin.[44] Today, governments in more advanced economies (i.e. Europe and North America) tend to rely more on direct taxes, while developing economies (i.e. India and several African countries) rely more on indirect taxes.
Economic effects[edit]
In economic terms, taxation transfers wealth from households or businesses to the government of a nation. Adam Smith writes in The Wealth of Nations that
"…the economic incomes of private people are of three main types: rent, profit and wages. Ordinary taxpayers will ultimately pay their taxes from at least one of these revenue sources. The government may intend that a particular tax should fall exclusively on rent, profit, or wages – and that another tax should fall on all three private income sources jointly. However, many taxes will inevitably fall on resources and persons very different from those intended … Good taxes meet four major criteria. They are (1) proportionate to incomes or abilities to pay (2) certain rather than arbitrary (3) payable at times and in ways convenient to the taxpayers and (4) cheap to administer and collect." Smith, Adam (2015). The Wealth of Nations: A Translation into Modern English. Industrial Systems Research. p. 429. ISBN 978-0-906321-70-6. </ref>
The side-effects of taxation (such as economic distortions) and theories about how best to tax are an important subject in microeconomics.[5] Taxation is almost never a simple transfer of wealth. Economic theories of taxation approach the question of how to maximize economic welfare through taxation.
Incidence[edit]
Main article: Tax incidence
See also: Effect of taxes and subsidies on price
Law establishes from whom a tax is collected. In many countries, taxes are imposed on business (such as corporate taxes or portions of payroll taxes). However, who ultimately pays the tax (the tax "burden") is determined by the marketplace as taxes become embedded into production costs. Economic theory suggests that the economic effect of tax does not necessarily fall at the point where it is legally levied. For instance, a tax on employment paid by employers will impact on the employee, at least in the long run. The greatest share of the tax burden tends to fall on the most inelastic factor involved—the part of the transaction which is affected least by a change in price. So, for instance, a tax on wages in a town will (at least in the long run) affect property-owners in that area.
Depending on how quantities supplied and demanded vary with price (the "elasticities" of supply and demand), a tax can be absorbed by the seller (in the form of lower pre-tax prices), or by the buyer (in the form of higher post-tax prices).[5] If the elasticity of supply is low, more of the tax will be paid by the supplier. If the elasticity of demand is low, more will be paid by the customer; and, contrariwise for the cases where those elasticities are high. If the seller is a competitive firm, the tax burden is distributed over the factors of production depending on the elasticities thereof; this includes workers (in the form of lower wages), capital investors (in the form of loss to shareholders), landowners (in the form of lower rents), entrepreneurs (in the form of lower wages of superintendence) and customers (in the form of higher prices).
To show this relationship, suppose that the market price of a product is $1.00, and that a $0.50 tax is imposed on the product that, by law, is to be collected from the seller. If the product has an elastic demand, a greater portion of the tax will be absorbed by the seller. This is because goods with elastic demand cause a large decline in quantity demanded for a small increase in price. Therefore, in order to stabilize sales, the seller absorbs more of the additional tax burden. For example, the seller might drop the price of the product to $0.70 so that, after adding in the tax, the buyer pays a total of $1.20, or $0.20 more than he did before the $0.50 tax was imposed. In this example, the buyer has paid $0.20 of the $0.50 tax (in the form of a post-tax price) and the seller has paid the remaining $0.30 (in the form of a lower pre-tax price).[45]
Increased economic welfare[edit]
Government spending[edit]
The purpose of taxation is to provide for government spending without inflation. The provision of public goods such as roads and other infrastructure, schools, a social safety net, health care, national defense, law enforcement, and a courts system increases the economic welfare of society if the benefit outweighs the costs involved.
Pigovian[edit]
The existence of a tax can increase economic efficiency in some cases. If there is a negative externality associated with a good, meaning that it has negative effects not felt by the consumer, then a free market will trade too much of that good. By taxing the good, the government can increase overall welfare as well as raising revenue. This type of tax is called a Pigovian tax, after economist Arthur Pigou.
Possible Pigovian taxes include those on polluting fuels (like petrol), taxes on goods which incur public healthcare costs (such as alcohol or tobacco), and charges for existing 'free' public goods (like congestion charging) are another possibility.
Reduced inequality[edit]
Progressive taxation may reduce economic inequality. This effect occurs even when the tax revenue isn't redistributed.[citation needed]
Reduced economic welfare[edit]
Most taxes (see below) have side effects that reduce economic welfare, either by mandating unproductive labor (compliance costs) or by creating distortions to economic incentives (deadweight loss and perverse incentives).[citation needed]
Cost of compliance[edit]
Although governments must spend money on tax collection activities, some of the costs, particularly for keeping records and filling out forms, are borne by businesses and by private individuals. These are collectively called costs of compliance. More complex tax systems tend to have higher compliance costs. This fact can be used as the basis for practical or moral arguments in favor of tax simplification (such as the FairTax or OneTax, and some flat tax proposals).
Deadweight costs[edit]
Diagram illustrating deadweight costs of taxes
In the absence of negative externalities, the introduction of taxes into a market reduces economic efficiency by causing deadweight loss. In a competitive market the price of a particular economic good adjusts to ensure that all trades which benefit both the buyer and the seller of a good occur. The introduction of a tax causes the price received by the seller to be less than the cost to the buyer by the amount of the tax. This causes fewer transactions to occur, which reduces economic welfare; the individuals or businesses involved are less well off than before the tax. The tax burden and the amount of deadweight cost is dependent on the elasticity of supply and demand for the good taxed.
Most taxes—including income tax and sales tax—can have significant deadweight costs. The only way to avoid deadweight costs in an economy that is generally competitive is to refrain from taxes that change economic incentives. Such taxes include the land value tax,[46] where the tax is on a good in completely inelastic supply, a lump sum tax such as a poll tax (head tax) which is paid by all adults regardless of their choices. Arguably a windfall profits tax which is entirely unanticipated can also fall into this category.
Deadweight loss does not account for the effect taxes have in leveling the business playing field. Businesses that have more money are better suited to fend off competition. It is common that an industry with a small amount of very large corporations has a very high barrier of entry for new entrants coming into the marketplace. This is due to the fact that the larger the corporation, the better its position to negotiate with suppliers. Also, larger companies may be able to operate at low or even negative profits for extended periods of time, thus pushing out competition. More progressive taxation of profits, however, would reduce such barriers for new entrants, thereby increasing competition and ultimately benefiting consumers.[47]
Perverse incentives[edit]
Complexity of the tax code in developed economies offer perverse tax incentives. The more details of tax policy there are, the more opportunities for legal tax avoidance and illegal tax evasion. These not only result in lost revenue, but involve additional costs: for instance, payments made for tax advice are essentially deadweight costs because they add no wealth to the economy. Perverse incentives also occur because of non-taxable 'hidden' transactions; for instance, a sale from one company to another might be liable for sales tax, but if the same goods were shipped from one branch of a corporation to another, no tax would be payable.
To address these issues, economists often suggest simple and transparent tax structures which avoid providing loopholes. Sales tax, for instance, can be replaced with a value added tax which disregards intermediate transactions.
Reduced production[edit]
If a tax is paid on outsourced services that is not also charged on services performed for oneself, then it may be cheaper to perform the services oneself than to pay someone else—even considering losses in economic efficiency.[48][49]
For example, suppose jobs A and B are both valued at $1 on the market. And suppose that because of your unique abilities, you can do job A twice over (100% extra output) in the same effort as it would take you to do job B. But job B is the one that you need done right now. Under perfect division of labor, you would do job A and somebody else would do job B. Your unique abilities would always be rewarded.
Income taxation has the worst effect on division of labor in the form of barter. Suppose that the person doing job B is actually interested in having job A done for him. Now suppose you could amazingly do job A four times over, selling half your work on the market for cash just to pay your tax bill. The other half of the work you do for somebody who does job B twice over but he has to sell off half to pay his tax bill. You're left with one unit of job B, but only if you were 400% as productive doing job A! In this case of 50% tax on barter income, anything less than 400% productivity will cause the division of labor to fail.
In summary, depending on the situation a 50% tax rate can cause the division of labor to fail even where productivity gains of up to 300% would have resulted. Even a mere 30% tax rate can negate the advantage of a 100% productivity gain.[50]
In developing countries[edit]
Following Nicolas Kaldor's research, public finance in developing countries is strongly tied to state capacity and financial development. As state capacity develops, states not only increase the level of taxation but also the pattern of taxation. With the increase of larger tax bases and the diminish of the importance of trading tax, while income tax gains more importance.[51] According to Tilly's argument, state capacity evolves as response to the emergence of war. War is an incentive for states to raise tax and strengthen states capacity. Historically, many taxation breakthroughs took place during the wartime. The introduction of income tax in Britain was due to the Napoleonic War in 1798. US first introduce income tax during Civil War.[52] Taxation is constrained by the fiscal and legal capacities of a country.[53] Fiscal and legal capacities also complement each other. A well-designed tax system can minimize efficiency loss and boost economic growth. With better compliance and better support to financial institutions and individual property, the government will be able to collect more tax. Although wealthier countries have higher tax revenue, economic growth does not always translate to higher tax revenue. For example, in India, increases in exemptions leads to the stagnation of income tax revenue at around 0.5% of GDP since 1986.[54]
Researchers for EPS PEAKS [55] stated that the core purpose of taxation is revenue mobilisation, providing resources for National Budgets, and forming an important part of macroeconomic management. They said economic theory has focused on the need to 'optimise' the system through balancing efficiency and equity, understanding the impacts on production, and consumption as well as distribution, redistribution, and welfare.
They state that taxes and tax reliefs have also been used as a tool for behavioural change, to influence investment decisions, labour supply, consumption patterns, and positive and negative economic spill-overs (externalities), and ultimately, the promotion of economic growth and development. The tax system and its administration also play an important role in state-building and governance, as a principal form of 'social contract' between the state and citizens who can, as taxpayers, exert accountability on the state as a consequence.
The researchers wrote that domestic revenue forms an important part of a developing country's public financing as it is more stable and predictable than Overseas Development Assistance and necessary for a country to be self-sufficient. They found that domestic revenue flows are, on average, already much larger than ODA, with aid worth less than 10% of collected taxes in Africa as a whole.
However, in a quarter of African countries Overseas Development Assistance does exceed tax collection,[56] with these more likely to be non-resource-rich countries. This suggests countries making most progress replacing aid with tax revenue tend to be those benefiting disproportionately from rising prices of energy and commodities.
The author [55] found tax revenue as a percentage of GDP varying greatly around a global average of 19%.[57] This data also indicates countries with higher GDP tend to have higher tax to GDP ratios, demonstrating that higher income is associated with more than proportionately higher tax revenue. On average, high-income countries have tax revenue as a percentage of GDP of around 22%, compared to 18% in middle-income countries and 14% in low-income countries.
In high-income countries, the highest tax-to-GDP ratio is in Denmark at 47% and the lowest is in Kuwait at 0.8%, reflecting low taxes from strong oil revenues. Long-term average performance of tax revenue as a share of GDP in low-income countries has been largely stagnant, although most have shown some improvement in more recent years. On average, resource-rich countries have made the most progress, rising from 10% in the mid-1990s to around 17% in 2008. Non resource rich countries made some progress, with average tax revenues increasing from 10% to 15% over the same period.[58]
Many low-income countries have a tax-to-GDP ratio of less than 15% which could be due to low tax potential, such as a limited taxable economic activity, or low tax effort due to policy choice, non-compliance, or administrative constraints.
Some low-income countries have relatively high tax-to- GDP ratios due to resource tax revenues (e.g. Angola) or relatively efficient tax administration (e.g. Kenya, Brazil) whereas some middle-income countries have lower tax-to-GDP ratios (e.g. Malaysia) which reflect a more tax-friendly policy choice.
While overall tax revenues have remained broadly constant, the global trend shows trade taxes have been declining as a proportion of total revenues(IMF, 2011), with the share of revenue shifting away from border trade taxes towards domestically levied sales taxes on goods and services. Low-income countries tend to have a higher dependence on trade taxes, and a smaller proportion of income and consumption taxes, when compared to high income countries.[59]
One indicator of the taxpaying experience was captured in the 'Doing Business' survey,[60] which compares the total tax rate, time spent complying with tax procedures and the number of payments required through the year, across 176 countries. The 'easiest' countries in which to pay taxes are located in the Middle East with the UAE ranking first, followed by Qatar and Saudi Arabia, most likely reflecting low tax regimes in those countries. Countries in Sub-Saharan Africa are among the 'hardest' to pay with the Central African Republic, Republic of Congo, Guinea and Chad in the bottom 5, reflecting higher total tax rates and a greater administrative burden to comply.
Key facts[edit]
The below facts were compiled by EPS PEAKS researchers:[55]
Trade liberalisation has led to a decline in trade taxes as a share of total revenues and GDP.[55][61]
Resource-rich countries tend to collect more revenue as a share of GDP, but this is more volatile. Sub-Saharan African countries that are resource rich have performed better tax collecting than non-resource-rich countries, but revenues are more volatile from year to year.[61] By strengthening revenue management, there are huge opportunities for investment for development and growth.[55][62]
Developing countries have an informal sector representing an average of around 40%, perhaps up to 60% in some.[63] Informal sectors feature many small informal traders who may not be efficient in bringing into the tax net, since the cost of collection is high and revenue potential limited (although there are broader governance benefits). There is also an issue of non-compliant companies who are 'hard to tax', evading taxes and should be brought into the tax net.[55][64]
In many low-income countries, the majority of revenue is collected from a narrow tax base, sometimes because of a limited range of taxable economic activities. There is therefore dependence on few taxpayers, often multinationals, that can exacerbate the revenue challenge by minimising their tax liability, in some cases abusing a lack of capacity in revenue authorities, sometimes through transfer pricing abuse.[further explanation needed][55][64]
Developing and developed countries face huge challenges in taxing multinationals and international citizens. Estimates of tax revenue losses from evasion and avoidance in developing countries are limited by a lack of data and methodological shortcomings, but some estimates are significant.[55][65]
Countries use incentives to attract investment but doing this may be unnecessarily giving up revenue as evidence suggests that investors are influenced more by economic fundamentals like market size, infrastructure, and skills, and only marginally by tax incentives (IFC investor surveys).[55]
In low-income countries, compliance costs are high, they are lengthy processes, frequent tax payments, bribes and corruption.[55][64][66]
Administrations are often under-resourced, resources aren't effectively targeted on areas of greatest impact, and mid-level management is weak. Coordination between domestic and customs is weak, which is especially important for VAT. Weak administration, governance and corruption tend to be associated with low revenue collections (IMF, 2011).[55]
Evidence on the effect of aid on tax revenues is inconclusive. Tax revenue is more stable and sustainable than aid. While a disincentive effect of aid on revenue may be expected and was supported by some early studies, recent evidence does not support that conclusion, and in some cases, points towards higher tax revenue following support for revenue mobilisation.[55]
Of all regions, Africa has the highest total tax rates borne by business at 57.4% of profit on average, but has reduced the most since 2004, from 70%, partly due to introducing VAT and this is likely to have a beneficial effect on attracting investment.[55][67]
Fragile states are less able to expand tax revenue as a percentage of GDP and any gains are more difficult to sustain.[68] Tax administration tends to collapse if conflict reduces state controlled territory or reduces productivity.[69] As economies are rebuilt after conflicts, there can be good progress in developing effective tax systems. Liberia expanded from 10.6% of GDP in 2003 to 21.3% in 2011. Mozambique increased from 10.5% of GDP in 1994 to around 17.7% in 2011.[55][70]
Tax administration in developing countries[edit]
Many developing countries have attempted to improve their tax collection capacity by streamlining business processes and introducing information and communication technologies.[71]
Summary[edit]
Aid interventions in revenue can support revenue mobilisation for growth, improve tax system design and administrative effectiveness, and strengthen governance and compliance.[55] The author of the Economics Topic Guide found that the best aid modalities for revenue depend on country circumstances, but should aim to align with government interests and facilitate effective planning and implementation of activities under an evidence-based tax reform. Lastly, she found that identifying areas for further reform requires country-specific diagnostic assessment: broad areas for developing countries identified internationally (e.g. IMF) include, for example property taxation for local revenues, strengthening expenditure management, and effective taxation of extractive industries and multinationals.[55]
Views[edit]
Support[edit]
Main article: Social contract
Every tax, however, is, to the person who pays it, a badge, not of slavery, but of liberty. – Adam Smith (1776), Wealth of Nations[72]
According to most political philosophies, taxes are justified as they fund activities that are necessary and beneficial to society. Additionally, progressive taxation can be used to reduce economic inequality in a society. According to this view, taxation in modern nation-states benefit the majority of the population and social development.[73] A common presentation of this view, paraphrasing various statements by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. is "Taxes are the price of civilization".[74]
It can also be argued that in a democracy, because the government is the party performing the act of imposing taxes, society as a whole decides how the tax system should be organized.[75] The American Revolution's "No taxation without representation" slogan implied this view. For traditional conservatives, the payment of taxation is justified as part of the general obligations of citizens to obey the law and support established institutions. The conservative position is encapsulated in perhaps the most famous adage of public finance, "An old tax is a good tax".[76] Conservatives advocate the "fundamental conservative premise that no one should be excused from paying for government, lest they come to believe that government is costless to them with the certain consequence that they will demand more government 'services'."[77] Social democrats generally favor higher levels of taxation to fund public provision of a wide range of services such as universal health care and education, as well as the provision of a range of welfare benefits.[78] As argued by Tony Crosland and others, the capacity to tax income from capital is a central element of the social democratic case for a mixed economy as against Marxist arguments for comprehensive public ownership of capital.[79] Many libertarians recommend a minimal level of taxation in order to maximize the protection of liberty.[citation needed]
Compulsory taxation of individuals, such as income tax, is often justified on grounds including territorial sovereignty, and the social contract. Defenders of business taxation argue that it is an efficient method of taxing income that ultimately flows to individuals, or that separate taxation of business is justified on the grounds that commercial activity necessarily involves use of publicly established and maintained economic infrastructure, and that businesses are in effect charged for this use.[80] Georgist economists argue that all of the economic rent collected from natural resources (land, mineral extraction, fishing quotas, etc.) is unearned income, and belongs to the community rather than any individual. They advocate a high tax (the "Single Tax") on land and other natural resources to return this unearned income to the state, but no other taxes.
Opposition[edit]
Main articles: Tax noncompliance and Taxation as theft
Because payment of tax is compulsory and enforced by the legal system, rather than voluntary like crowdfunding, some political philosophies view taxation as theft, extortion, (or as slavery, or as a violation of property rights), or tyranny, accusing the government of levying taxes via force and coercive means.[81] Voluntaryists, individualist anarchists, Objectivists, anarcho-capitalists, and libertarians see taxation as government aggression (see non-aggression principle). The view that democracy legitimizes taxation is rejected by those who argue that all forms of government, including laws chosen by democratic means, are fundamentally oppressive. According to Ludwig von Mises, "society as a whole" should not make such decisions, due to methodological individualism.[82] Libertarian opponents of taxation claim that governmental protection, such as police and defense forces might be replaced by market alternatives such as private defense agencies, arbitration agencies or voluntary contributions.[83] Walter E. Williams, professor of economics at George Mason University, stated "Government income redistribution programs produce the same result as theft. In fact, that's what a thief does; he redistributes income. The difference between government and thievery is mostly a matter of legality."[84]
Socialist view[edit]
Karl Marx assumed that taxation would be unnecessary after the advent of communism and looked forward to the "withering away of the state". In socialist economies such as that of China, taxation played a minor role, since most government income was derived from the ownership of enterprises, and it was argued by some that monetary taxation was not necessary.[85] While the morality of taxation is sometimes questioned, most arguments about taxation revolve around the degree and method of taxation and associated government spending, not taxation itself.
Choice[edit]
This section may lend undue weight to certain ideas, incidents, or controversies. Please help improve it by rewriting it in an neutral presentation that contextualizes different points of view. (November 2012) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
Main article: Tax choice
Tax choice is the theory that taxpayers should have more control with how their individual taxes are allocated. If taxpayers could choose which government organizations received their taxes, opportunity cost decisions would integrate their partial knowledge.[86] For example, a taxpayer who allocated more of his taxes on public education would have less to allocate on public healthcare. Supporters argue that allowing taxpayers to demonstrate their preferences would help ensure that the government succeeds at efficiently producing the public goods that taxpayers truly value.[87] This would end real estate speculation, business cycles, unemployment and distribute wealth much more evenly. Joseph Stiglitz's Henry George Theorem predicts its sufficiency because—as George also noted—public spending raises land value.
Geoist View[edit]
Main articles: Georgism, Geolibertarianism, and Land value tax
Geoists (Georgists and geolibertarians) state that taxation should primarily collect economic rent, in particular the value of land, for both reasons of economic efficiency as well as morality. The efficiency of using economic rent for taxation is (as economists agree[88][89][90]) due to the fact that such taxation cannot be passed on and does not create any dead-weight loss, and that it removes the incentive to speculate on land.[91] Its morality is based on the Geoist premise that private property is justified for products of labour but not for land and natural resources.[92]
Economist and social reformer Henry George opposed sales taxes and protective tariffs for their negative impact on trade.[93] He also believed in the right of each person to the fruits of their own labour and productive investment. Therefore, income from labour and proper capital should remain untaxed. For this reason many Geoists—in particular those that call themselves geolibertarian—share the view with libertarians that these types of taxation (but not all) are immoral and even theft. George stated there should be one single tax: the Land Value Tax, which is considered both efficient and moral.[92] Demand for specific land is dependent on nature, but even more so on the presence of communities, trade, and government infrastructure, particularly in urban environments. Therefore, the economic rent of land is not the product of one particular individual and it may be claimed for public expenses. According to George, this would end real estate bubbles, business cycles, unemployment and distribute wealth much more evenly.[92] Joseph Stiglitz's Henry George Theorem predicts its sufficiency for financing public goods because those raise land value.[94]
John Locke stated that whenever labour is mixed with natural resources, such as is the case with improved land, private property is justified under the proviso that there must be enough other natural resources of the same quality available to others.[95] Geoists state that the Lockean proviso is violated wherever land value is greater than zero. Therefore, under the assumed principle of equal rights of all people to natural resources, the occupier of any such land must compensate the rest of society to the amount of that value. For this reason, geoists generally believe that such payment cannot be regarded as a true 'tax', but rather a compensation or fee.[96] This means that while Geoists also regard taxation as an instrument of social justice, contrary to social democrats and social liberals they do not regard it as an instrument of redistribution but rather a 'predistribution' or simply a correct distribution of the commons.[97]
Modern geoists note that land in the classical economic meaning of the word referred to all natural resources, and thus also includes resources such as mineral deposits, water bodies and the electromagnetic spectrum, to which privileged access also generates economic rent that must be compensated. Under the same reasoning most of them also consider pigouvian taxes as compensation for environmental damage or privilege as acceptable and even necessary.[98][99]
Theories[edit]
Main article: Theory of taxation
Laffer curve[edit]
Main article: Laffer curve
In economics, the Laffer curve is a theoretical representation of the relationship between government revenue raised by taxation and all possible rates of taxation. It is used to illustrate the concept of taxable income elasticity (that taxable income will change in response to changes in the rate of taxation). The curve is constructed by thought experiment. First, the amount of tax revenue raised at the extreme tax rates of 0% and 100% is considered. It is clear that a 0% tax rate raises no revenue, but the Laffer curve hypothesis is that a 100% tax rate will also generate no revenue because at such a rate there is no longer any incentive for a rational taxpayer to earn any income, thus the revenue raised will be 100% of nothing. If both a 0% rate and 100% rate of taxation generate no revenue, it follows from the extreme value theorem that there must exist at least one rate in between where tax revenue would be a maximum. The Laffer curve is typically represented as a graph which starts at 0% tax, zero revenue, rises to a maximum rate of revenue raised at an intermediate rate of taxation and then falls again to zero revenue at a 100% tax rate.
One potential result of the Laffer curve is that increasing tax rates beyond a certain point will become counterproductive for raising further tax revenue. A hypothetical Laffer curve for any given economy can only be estimated and such estimates are sometimes controversial. The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics reports that estimates of revenue-maximizing tax rates have varied widely, with a mid-range of around 70%.[100]
Optimal[edit]
Main article: Optimal tax
Most governments take revenue which exceeds that which can be provided by non-distortionary taxes or through taxes which give a double dividend. Optimal taxation theory is the branch of economics that considers how taxes can be structured to give the least deadweight costs, or to give the best outcomes in terms of social welfare.[5] The Ramsey problem deals with minimizing deadweight costs. Because deadweight costs are related to the elasticity of supply and demand for a good, it follows that putting the highest tax rates on the goods for which there is most inelastic supply and demand will result in the least overall deadweight costs. Some economists sought to integrate optimal tax theory with the social welfare function, which is the economic expression of the idea that equality is valuable to a greater or lesser extent. If individuals experience diminishing returns from income, then the optimum distribution of income for society involves a progressive income tax. Mirrlees optimal income tax is a detailed theoretical model of the optimum progressive income tax along these lines. Over the last years the validity of the theory of optimal taxation was discussed by many political economists.[101]
Rates[edit]
Main article: Tax rate
Taxes are most often levied as a percentage, called the tax rate. An important distinction when talking about tax rates is to distinguish between the marginal rate and the effective tax rate. The effective rate is the total tax paid divided by the total amount the tax is paid on, while the marginal rate is the rate paid on the next dollar of income earned. For example, if income is taxed on a formula of 5% from $0 up to $50,000, 10% from $50,000 to $100,000, and 15% over $100,000, a taxpayer with income of $175,000 would pay a total of $18,750 in taxes.
Tax calculation
(0.05*50,000) + (0.10*50,000) + (0.15*75,000) = 18,750
The "effective rate" would be 10.7%:
18,750/175,000 = 0.107
The "marginal rate" would be 15%.
See also[edit]
Advance tax ruling
Excess burden of taxation
Fiscal capacity
Fiscal incidence
Government budget balance
International taxation
List of taxes
Price ceiling
Price floor
Revolutionary tax
Robbery
Tax competition
Tax exporting
Tax haven
Taxpayer receipt
Tax resistance
Tax shelter
By country or region[edit]
List of countries by tax rates
List of countries by tax revenue as percentage of GDP
Category:Taxation by country
References[edit]
Jump up ^ Charles E. McLure, Jr. "Taxation". Britannica. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
Jump up ^ See for example 26 U.S.C. § 7203 in the case of U.S. Federal taxes.
^ Jump up to: a b Simkovic, Michael (2015). "The Knowledge Tax". University of Chicago Law Review. SSRN 2551567  .
Jump up ^ Beardsley, Ruml. "Taxes for Revenue are Obsolete" (PDF). American Affairs. VIII (1). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-03-14.
^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i Simkovic, Michael. "The Knowledge Tax". University of Chicago Law Review. SSRN 2551567  .
Jump up ^ Artoni, Roberto (2015). Elementi di scienza delle finanze. il Mulino.
Jump up ^ "Definition of Taxes (Note by the Chairman), 1996" (PDF). Retrieved 22 January 2013.
Jump up ^ "Social Security Programs Throughout the World on the U.S. Social Security website for links to individual country program descriptions". Ssa.gov. Retrieved 22 January 2013.
Jump up ^ By contrast, some countries, such as New Zealand, finance the programs through other taxes.
Jump up ^ See, e.g., India Social Security overview Archived 23 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine.
Jump up ^ See, e.g., United States Federal Unemployment Tax Act.
Jump up ^ Taxes on the net wealth of corporations are often referred to as corporate tax.
Jump up ^ McCluskey, William J.; Franzsen, Riël C. D. (2005). Land Value Taxation: An Applied Analysis. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. p. 4. ISBN 0-7546-1490-5.
^ Jump up to: a b c d "TPC Tax Topics | Federal Budget". Taxpolicycenter.org. Retrieved 27 March 2009.
Jump up ^ "26 USC 877". Law.cornell.edu. Retrieved 22 January 2013.
Jump up ^ Although Texas has no individual income tax, the state does impose a franchise tax—soon to be replaced by a margin tax—on business activity that, while not denominated as an income tax, is in substance a kind of income tax.
Jump up ^ "Economist.com". Economist.com. 12 February 2009. Retrieved 27 March 2009.
Jump up ^ Quick, John; Garran, Robert (1 January 1901). The Annotated Constitution of the Australian Commonwealth. Australia: Angus & Robertson. p. 837.
Jump up ^ "Tax Facts | Tax Facts Listing". Taxpolicycenter.org. Retrieved 27 March 2009.
Jump up ^ "Internal Revenue Service". webcache.googleusercontent.com. Archived from the original on 16 August 2007. Retrieved 27 March 2009.
Jump up ^ "luxury tax — Britannica Online Encyclopedia". Concise.britannica.com. Archived from the original on 7 July 2012. Retrieved 27 March 2009.
Jump up ^ Schaefer, Jeffrey M. (1 January 1969). "Clothing Exemptions and Sales Tax Regressivity". The American Economic Review. 59 (4): 596–99. JSTOR 1813222.
Jump up ^ Atkinson, A. B. (1977). "Optimal Taxation and the Direct Versus Indirect Tax Controversy". Can. J. Econ. 590: 592.
Jump up ^ "What is Difference Between Direct and Indirect Tax?". Investor Guide. Retrieved 28 October 2011.
Jump up ^ "Taxes versus fees". Ncsu.edu. 2 May 2007. Archived from the original on 8 October 2012. Retrieved 22 January 2013.
Jump up ^ Some economists[who?] hold that the inflation tax affects the lower and middle classes more than the rich, as they hold a larger fraction of their income in cash, they are much less likely to receive the newly created monies before the market has adjusted with inflated prices, and more often have fixed incomes, wages or pensions. Some argue that inflation is a regressive consumption tax. Also see Andrés Erosa and Gustavo Ventura, "On inflation as a regressive consumption tax Archived 10 September 2008 at the Wayback Machine.". Some[who?] claim there are systemic effects of an expansionary monetary policy, which are also definitively taxing, imposing a financial charge on some as a result of the policy. Because the effects of monetary expansion or counterfeiting are never uniform over an entire economy, the policy influences capital transfers in the market, creating economic bubbles where the new monies are first introduced. Economic bubbles increase market instability, and therefore increase investment risk, creating the conditions common to a recession. This particular tax can be understood to be levied on future generations that would have benefited from economic growth, and it has a 100% transfer cost (so long as people are not acting against their interests, increased uncertainty benefits no-one). One example of a strong supporter of this tax was the former Federal Reserve chair Beardsley Ruml.
Jump up ^ See, e.g., Reinhart, Carmen M. and Rogoff, Kenneth S., This Time is Different. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2008 (p. 143), The Liquidation of Government Debt, Reinhart, Carmen M. & Sbrancia, M. Belen, p. 19, Giovannini, Alberto; de Melo, Martha (1993). "Government Revenue from Financial Repression". The American Economic Review. 83 (4): 953–63.
Jump up ^ Taxes in the Ancient World, University of Pennsylvania Almanac, Vol. 48, No. 28, 2 April 2002
Jump up ^ David F. Burg (2004). A World History of Tax Rebellions. Taylor & Francis. pp. vi–viii. ISBN 9780415924986.
Jump up ^ Olmert, Michael (1996). Milton's Teeth and Ovid's Umbrella: Curiouser & Curiouser Adventures in History, p. 41. Simon & Schuster, New York. ISBN 0-684-80164-7.
Jump up ^ "The Bible".
Jump up ^ "Darius I (Darius the Great), King of Persia (from 521 BC)". 1902encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 22 January 2013.
Jump up ^ "History Of Iran (Persia)". Historyworld.net. Retrieved 22 January 2013.
Jump up ^ The Theocratic Ideology of the Chronicler – by Jonathan E. Dyck – p. 96 – Brill, 1998
Jump up ^ British Museum. "History of the World in 100 Objects:Rosetta Stone". BBC.
Jump up ^ Hoffman, Phillipe and Kathryn Norberg (1994), Fiscal Crises, Liberty, and Representative Government, 1450–1789, p. 238.
Jump up ^ Hoffman, Phillipe and Kathryn Norberg (1994), Fiscal Crises, Liberty, and Representative Government, 1450–1789, p. 300 .
Jump up ^ "OECD Revenue Statistics: 1965-2016".
Jump up ^ Tax/Spending Burden, Forbes magazine, 05-24-04
Jump up ^ "IRS pick list". IRS. Retrieved 21 January 2013.
Jump up ^ "title 26 US Code". US House of Reperesentitives. Retrieved 21 January 2013.
Jump up ^ Caron, Paul L. (28 October 2011). "How Many Words Are in the Internal Revenue Code?". Retrieved 21 January 2013.
Jump up ^ "26 CFR – Table Of Contents". Gpo.gov. 1 April 2012. Retrieved 22 January 2013.
Jump up ^ "Internal Revenue Bulletin: 2012–23". Internal Revenue Service. 4 June 2012. Retrieved 7 June 2012.
Jump up ^ Parkin, Michael (2006), Principles of Microeconomics, p. 134.
Jump up ^ William J. McCluskey; Riël C. D. Franzsen (2005). Land Value Taxation: An Applied Analysis. Ashgate. p. 73. ISBN 978-0-7546-1490-6.
Jump up ^ Avi-Yonah, Reuven S.; Slemrod, Joel B. (April 2002). "Why Tax the Rich? Efficiency, Equity, and Progressive Taxation". The Yale Law Journal. 111 (6): 1391–416. doi:10.2307/797614. JSTOR 797614.
Jump up ^ Johnsson, Richard. "Taxation and Domestic Free Trade". Ideas.repec.org. Retrieved 27 March 2009.
Jump up ^ Corsi, Jerome, 2007. "The VAT: Menace to Free Trade", WorldNetDaily Exclusive Commentary, WorldNetDaily, 3 February 2007
Jump up ^ Johnsson, Richard, 2004. "Taxation and Domestic Free Trade," Ratio Working Papers 40, The Ratio Institute, revised 7 June 2004.
Jump up ^ Stern, Nicolas; Burgess, Robin. "Taxation and Development". Journal of Economic Literature.
Jump up ^ Besley, Timothy; Persson, Torsten. "The Origins of State Capacity: Property Rights, Taxation, and Politics".
Jump up ^ Besley, Timothy; Persson, Trosten. "The Origins of State Capacity: Property Rights, Taxation, and Politics".
Jump up ^ Piketty, Thomas; Qian, Nancy. "Income Inequality and Progressive Income Taxation in China and India, 1986–2015".
^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Hazel Granger (2013). "Economics Topic Guide Taxation and Revenue". EPS PEAKS.
Jump up ^ Africa Economic Outlook 2010, Part 2: Public Resource Mobilisation and Aid in Africa, AfDB/OECD (2010)
Jump up ^ According to IMF data for 2010, from Revenue Data for IMF Member Countries, as of 2011, (unpublished)
Jump up ^ IMF FAD (2011), Revenue Mobilization in Developing Countries
Jump up ^ IMF WP/05/112, Tax Revenue and (or?) Trade Liberalization, Thomas Baunsgaard and Michael Keen
Jump up ^ 'Doing Business 2013', World Bank/IFC (2013)
^ Jump up to: a b Keen; Mansour (2010). "Revenue Mobilisation in Sub-Saharan Africa: Challenges from Globalisation I – Trade Reform". Development Policy Review. 28 (5): 553–71. doi:10.1111/j.1467-7679.2010.00498.x.
Jump up ^ See for example Paul Collier (2010), The Political Economy of Natural Resources, social research Vol 77 : No 4 : Winter 2010.
Jump up ^ Schneider, Buehn, and Montenegro (2010), Shadow Economies all over the World: New Estimates for 162 Countries from 1999 to 2007.
^ Jump up to: a b c IMF, 2011, Revenue Mobilization in Developing Countries, Fiscal Affairs Department
Jump up ^ See Section 3 'International Taxation' e.g. Torvik, 2009 in Commission on Capital Flight from Developing Countries, 2009: Tax Havens and Development
Jump up ^ 'Doing Business 2013', World Bank/IFC 2013
Jump up ^ Paying Taxes 2013: Total tax rate is a composite measure including corporate income tax, employment taxes, social contributions, indirect taxes, property taxes and smaller taxes e.g. environmental tax.
Jump up ^ IMF Working Paper 108/12 (2012), Mobilizing Revenue in Sub-Saharan Africa: Empirical Norms and Key Determinants
Jump up ^ African Economic Outlook (2010)
Jump up ^ IMF Revenue Data, 2011: Total Tax Revenue as a percentage of GDP
Jump up ^ Barreto, Ruben; Sinha, Rajib (2014-12-22). "Implementing a Tax Administration System in the Kyrgyz Republic". Rochester, NY.
Jump up ^ Smith, Adam (1776), Wealth of Nations, Penn State Electronic Classics edition, republished 2005, p. 704
Jump up ^ Population and Social Integration Section (PSIS), United Nations Social and Economic Commission for Asia and the Pacific
Jump up ^ Eugene C. Gerhart (1998). Quote it Completely!: World Reference Guide to More Than 5,500 Memorable Quotations from Law and Literature. W.S. Hein. p. 1045. ISBN 978-1-57588-400-4.
Jump up ^ Logue, Danielle (2009). "Moving policy forward: 'brain drain' as a wicked problem". Globalisation, Societies & Education. 7 (1): 41–50. doi:10.1080/14767720802677366.
Jump up ^ "Tax History Project: The Depression and Reform: FDR's Search for Tax Revision in N.Y. (Copyright, 2003, Tax Analysts)".
Jump up ^ "Do Conservatives Have a Conservative Tax Agenda?". Heritage.org. Archived from the original on 22 May 2009. Retrieved 22 January 2013.
Jump up ^ Ruiz del Portal, X. 2009. "A general principal–agent setting with non-differentiable mechanisms: Some examples." Mathematical Social Sciences 57, no. 2: 262–78. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost.
Jump up ^ Chaturvedi, Skand (2009). Financial Management: Entailing Planning for the Future. Global India Publications. p. 77. ISBN 978-93-80228-56-3.
Jump up ^ Van Der Graaf, Rieke, and Johannes J. M. Van Delden. 2009. Clarifying appeals to dignity in medical ethics from an historical perspective. Bioethics 23, no. 3: 151–60. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost.
Jump up ^ For an overview of the classical liberal perspective on taxation see www.irefeurope.org
Jump up ^ Human Action Chapter II. Sec. 4. The Principle of Methodological Individualism by Ludwig von Mises
Jump up ^ Spencer Heath MacCallum (12 September 2007). "The Rule of Law Without the State,". Ludwig Von Mises Institute. Retrieved 16 August 2008.
Jump up ^ Williams, Walter E. (6 August 2008). "Government theft, American-style". WorldNetDaily. Retrieved 11 September 2008.
Jump up ^ Li, Jinyan (1991). Taxation in the People's Republic of China. New York: Praeger. ISBN 0-275-93688-0.
Jump up ^ Frey, Bruno S.; Torgler, Benno (2007). "Tax morale and conditional cooperation" (PDF). Journal of Comparative Economics. 35: 136–59. doi:10.1016/j.jce.2006.10.006. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 January 2013. Retrieved 3 January 2013.
Jump up ^ "Do Earmarks Increase Giving to Government?" (PDF). Cbees.utdallas.edu. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 March 2013. Retrieved 3 January 2013.
Jump up ^ Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations Book V, Chapter 2, Part 2, Article I: Taxes upon the Rent of Houses
Jump up ^ McCluskey, William J.; Franzsen, Riël C. D. (2005). Land Value Taxation: An Applied Analysis. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. p. 4. ISBN 0-7546-1490-5.
Jump up ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 29 March 2015. Retrieved 2015-03-29.
Jump up ^ William J. McCluskey; Riël C. D. Franzsen. "Land Value Taxation: An Applied Analysis". Ashgate. p. 73. ISBN 978-0-7546-1490-6.
^ Jump up to: a b c George, Henry (1879). Progress and Poverty: An Inquiry into the Cause of Industrial Depressions and of Increase of Want with Increase of Wealth.
Jump up ^ George, Henry (1886). Protection or Free Trade.
Jump up ^ Arnott, Richard J.; Joseph E. Stiglitz (Nov 1979). "Aggregate Land Rents, Expenditure on Public Goods, and Optimal City Size" (PDF). Quarterly Journal of Economics. 93 (4): 471–500. doi:10.2307/1884466. JSTOR 1884466.
Jump up ^ Locke, John. "5". 'Second Treatise of Government.
Jump up ^ "What is LVT?". landvaluetax.org.
Jump up ^ Kerr, Gavin (10 March 2015). "'Predistribution', property-owning democracy and land value taxation'". 'Politics, philosophy and economics'.
Jump up ^ Davies, Lindy. "The Science of Political Economy: What George "Left Out"". politicaleconomy.org. Retrieved 16 June 2014.
Jump up ^ Batt, H. William. "The Compatibility of Georgist Economics and Ecological Economics". Retrieved 9 June 2014.
Jump up ^ Fullerton, Don (2008). Laffer curve. The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics, Second Edition. Palgrave Macmillan. Retrieved 5 July 2011. The mid-range for this elasticity is around 0.4, with a revenue peak around 70 per cent.
Jump up ^ "Libertarian & Conservative News". Words Of Liberty. Archived from the original on 22 January 2013. Retrieved 22 January 2013.
Further reading[edit]
Library resources about
Tax
Resources in your library
My taxes go where? How countries spend your money (17 February 2015), The BBC
Minarik, Joseph J. (2008). "Taxation". In David R. Henderson (ed.). Concise Encyclopedia of Economics (2nd ed.). Library of Economics and Liberty. ISBN 978-0865976658. OCLC 237794267. CS1 maint: Extra text: editors list (link)
External links[edit]
Find more aboutTaxat Wikipedia's sister projects
Definitions from Wiktionary
Media from Wikimedia Commons
News from Wikinews
Quotations from Wikiquote
Texts from Wikisource
Textbooks from Wikibooks
Learning resources from Wikiversity
OECD tax statistics
OECD portal on Tax
hide
v
t
e
Property
By owner
Communal land
Marital property (USA)
Cooperative
Estate in land
Private
Public
State
Crown land
By nature
Croft
Intangible
Intellectual
indigenous
Personal
Tangible
immovable
real
Common resources
Common land
Common-pool resource
Digital
Global
Information
Knowledge
Theory
Bundle of rights
Commodity
fictitious commodities
Common good (economics)
Excludability
First possession
appropriation
homestead principle
Free rider problem
Game theory
Georgism
Gift economy
Labor theory of property
Law of rent
rent-seeking
Legal plunder
Natural rights
Ownership
common
customary
self
state
Property rights
primogeniture
usufruct
women's
Right to property
Rivalry
Tragedy of the commons
anticommons
Applications
Acequia (watercourse)
Ejido (agrarian land)
Forest types
Inheritance
Land tenure
Property law
alienation
easement
restraint on alienation
real estate
title
Rights
Air
Fishing
Forest-dwelling (India)
Freedom to roam
Grazing
pannage
Hunting
Land
aboriginal
indigenous
squatting
Littoral
Mineral
Bergregal
Right of way
Water
prior-appropriation
riparian
Disposession/
redistribution
Bioprospecting
Collectivization
Eminent domain
Enclosure
Eviction
Expropriation
Farhud
Forced migration
population transfer
Illegal fishing
Illegal logging
Land reform
Legal plunder
Piracy
Poaching
Primitive accumulation
Privatization
Regulatory taking
Slavery
bride-buying
human trafficking
wage
wife selling
Tax
inheritance
poll
progressive
property
Theft
Scholars
(key work)
Frédéric Bastiat
Ronald Coase
Henry George
Garrett Hardin
David Harvey
John Locke
Two Treatises of Government
Karl Marx
Marcel Mauss
The Gift
John Stuart Mill
Elinor Ostrom
Karl Polanyi
The Great Transformation
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon
What Is Property?
David Ricardo
Murray N. Rothbard
The Ethics of Liberty
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
The Social Contract
Adam Smith
The Wealth of Nations
Categories: Property
Property law
by country
Authority control
GND: 4057399-0
LCCN: sh85132846
NDL: 00571492
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tax&oldid=846446872"
Categories:
3rd-millennium BC establishments in Egypt
Egyptian inventions
Tax
30th-century BC establishments
Hidden categories:
Webarchive template wayback links
CS1: Julian–Gregorian uncertainty
All articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases
Articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases from September 2010
Articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases from June 2011
Use dmy dates from May 2015
All articles with unsourced statements
Articles with unsourced statements from December 2016
All articles with vague or ambiguous time
Vague or ambiguous time from December 2016
Articles with unsourced statements from September 2016
All articles with failed verification
Articles with failed verification from June 2011
Articles with unsourced statements from May 2010
Articles with unsourced statements from January 2013
Articles with unsourced statements from May 2016
Articles with unsourced statements from October 2012
Wikipedia articles needing clarification from November 2013
Articles with unsourced statements from March 2011
Articles needing POV-check from November 2012
CS1 maint: Extra text: editors list
Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers
Wikipedia articles with LCCN identifiers
Wikipedia articles with NDL identifiers
Navigation menu
Personal tools
Not logged in
Talk
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Namespaces
Article
Talk
Variants
Views
Read
Edit
View history
More
Search
Navigation
Main page
Contents
Featured content
Current events
Random article
Donate to Wikipedia
Wikipedia store
Interaction
Help
About Wikipedia
Community portal
Recent changes
Contact page
Tools
What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Permanent link
Page information
Wikidata item
Cite this page
Print/export
Create a book
Download as PDF
Printable version
In other projects
Wikimedia Commons
Wikiquote
Languages
Alemannisch
አማርኛ
العربية
Aragonés
ܐܪܡܝܐ
অসমীয়া
Asturianu
Azərbaycanca
বাংলা
Bân-lâm-gú
Башҡортса
Беларуская
Беларуская (тарашкевіца)
Български
Bosanski
Brezhoneg
Буряад
Català
Čeština
Cymraeg
Dansk
Deutsch
Eesti
Ελληνικά
Español
Esperanto
Euskara
فارسی
Fiji Hindi
Français
Galego
한국어
Հայերեն
हिन्दी
Hrvatski
Ido
Ilokano
Bahasa Indonesia
Interlingua
Ирон
Íslenska
Italiano
עברית
ಕನ್ನಡ
Къарачай-малкъар
ქართული
Қазақша
Kiswahili
ລາວ
لۊری شومالی
Latina
Latviešu
Lëtzebuergesch
Lietuvių
Limburgs
Magyar
Македонски
Malagasy
മലയാളം
मराठी
مصرى
Bahasa Melayu
Монгол
Nederlands
नेपाली
नेपाल भाषा
日本語
Norsk
Norsk nynorsk
Occitan
Oʻzbekcha/ўзбекча
ਪੰਜਾਬੀ
پنجابی
پښتو
Patois
Piemontèis
Polski
Português
Română
Runa Simi
Русиньскый
Русский
Саха тыла
Scots
Shqip
සිංහල
Simple English
Slovenčina
Slovenščina
Soomaaliga
کوردی
Српски / srpski
Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски
Basa Sunda
Suomi
Svenska
Tagalog
தமிழ்
Татарча/tatarça
తెలుగు
ไทย
Тоҷикӣ
Türkçe
Українська
اردو
Tiếng Việt
Winaray
吴语
ייִדיש
粵語
Žemaitėška
中文
103 more
Edit links
This page was last edited on 18 June 2018, at 20:58 (UTC).
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Privacy policy
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Contact Wikipedia
Developers
Cookie statement
Mobile view
Enable previews

key: html

type: local

value: div

attrs: id class

values: mw-page-base noprint

values: mw-head-base noprint

value: a

attrs: id class lang

values: firstHeading firstHeading en

values: siteSub noprint

attrs: class href

values: mw-jump-link #mw-head

values: mw-jump-link #p-search

value: th

value: tr

value: img

attrs: alt src width height srcset data-file-width data-file-height

values: 10 Percent Legacy and Succession Duty Impressed Duty Stamp.jpg

attrs: href class

attrs: href title

values: padding:0.3em 0.4em 0.3em;font-weight:bold;border-top: 1px solid #aaa; border-bottom: 1px solid #aaa;

attrs: class id href

values: NavToggle NavToggle1 #

attrs: class style

value: li

values:
/wiki/Tax,_tariff_and_trade
mw-redirect
Tax, tariff and trade

values: font-size: 105%; padding: 0.2em 0px 0.4em; text-align: center; display: none;

values:
/wiki/Theory_of_taxation
mw-redirect
Theory of taxation

values:
/wiki/Tax_collection
mw-redirect
Tax collection

values:
/wiki/Tax_preparation
mw-redirect
Tax preparation

values:
/wiki/Tax_farming
mw-redirect
Tax farming

values:
/wiki/Value_added_tax
mw-redirect
Value added tax

values: European Union financial transaction tax

values: Rule against foreign revenue enforcement

values:
/wiki/Free_trade_zone
mw-redirect
Free trade zone

values: List of countries by tax revenue as percentage of GDP

values: Taxation in Taxation in Brazil (page does not exist)

values:
/wiki/Taxation_in_Singapore
mw-redirect
Taxation in Singapore

values: float:right;clear:right;width:22.0em;margin:0 0 1.0em 1.0em;background:#f9f9f9;border:1px solid #aaa;padding:0.2em;border-spacing:0.4em 0;text-align:center;line-height:1.4em;font-size:88%

attrs: alt src width height class srcset data-file-width data-file-height

values: Ghana revenue authority (page does not exist)

values:
/wiki/Health_care_system
mw-redirect
Health care system

values:
/wiki/Social_welfare
mw-redirect
Social welfare

values:
/wiki/Public_services
mw-redirect
Public services

values:
/wiki/Education_system
mw-redirect
Education system

values:
/wiki/Public_transportation
mw-redirect
Public transportation

values:
/wiki/Water_management
mw-redirect
Water management

values:
/wiki/Income_Effect
mw-redirect
Income Effect

values: {\displaystyle {\frac {1}{1+\tau }}=1-t\Rightarrow t={\frac {\tau }{1+\tau }}}

values: vertical-align: -2.005ex; width:27.575ex; height:5.343ex;

values: This term requires quantification. (December 2016)

values: Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Dates and numbers

values:
noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact
white-space:nowrap;

values:
/wiki/Neo-classical_economics
mw-redirect
Neo-classical economics

values: The time period mentioned near this tag is ambiguous. (December 2016)

values: This claim needs references to reliable sources. (December 2016)

values:
/wiki/Hypothecation_(taxation)
mw-redirect
Hypothecation (taxation)

values: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

values:
/wiki/Progressive_income_tax
mw-redirect
Progressive income tax

values: Edit section: Social security contributions

values:
/wiki/Listed_buildings
mw-redirect
Listed buildings

values:
/wiki/PILOT_(finance)
mw-redirect
PILOT (finance)

values:
/wiki/American_Jobs_Creation_Act
mw-redirect
American Jobs Creation Act

values:
/wiki/Stamp_duty_reserve_tax
mw-redirect
Stamp duty reserve tax

values:
/wiki/Stamp_duty_land_tax
mw-redirect
Stamp duty land tax

values:
/wiki/Juristic_person
mw-redirect
Juristic person

values: This claim needs references to reliable sources. (September 2016)

values:
nofollow
http://www.taxadmin.org/
external text

values:
/wiki/Customs_house
mw-redirect
Customs house

values:
/wiki/Alcoholic_beverage
mw-redirect
Alcoholic beverage

values:
/wiki/Vehicle_excise_duty
mw-redirect
Vehicle excise duty

values:
/wiki/Qing_Empire
mw-redirect
Qing Empire

values: The material near this tag failed verification of its source citation(s). (June 2011)

values:
/wiki/Poll_Tax_Riots
mw-redirect
Poll Tax Riots

values:
/wiki/Gas_Guzzler_Tax
mw-redirect
Gas Guzzler Tax

values: Edit section: Proportional, progressive, regressive, and lump-sum

values:
/wiki/Effective_tax_rate
mw-redirect
Effective tax rate

values:
/wiki/Tax_per_head
mw-redirect
Tax per head

values:
/wiki/Inflation_tax
mw-redirect
Inflation tax

values:
/wiki/Expansionary_monetary_policy
mw-redirect
Expansionary monetary policy

values:
/wiki/Old_Kingdom
mw-redirect
Old Kingdom

values:
/wiki/Joseph_(Hebrew_Bible)
mw-redirect
Joseph (Hebrew Bible)

values:
/wiki/Darius_I_the_Great
mw-redirect
Darius I the Great

values: This claim needs references to reliable sources. (May 2010)

values: This claim needs references to reliable sources. (January 2013)

values: Edit section: Increased economic welfare

values:
/wiki/Negative_externality
mw-redirect
Negative externality

values:
/wiki/Congestion_charging
mw-redirect
Congestion charging

values:
/wiki/Transfer_payments
mw-redirect
Transfer payments

values: This claim needs references to reliable sources. (May 2016)

values:
/wiki/Side_effects
mw-redirect
Side effects

values:
/wiki/Economic_welfare
mw-redirect
Economic welfare

values: This claim needs references to reliable sources. (October 2012)

values:
/wiki/Good_(economics)
mw-redirect
Good (economics)

values:
/wiki/Economic_incentive
mw-redirect
Economic incentive

values:
/wiki/Lump_sum_tax
mw-redirect
Lump sum tax

values:
/wiki/Economic_theory
mw-redirect
Economic theory

values:
/wiki/Redistribution_(economics)
mw-redirect
Redistribution (economics)

values: Consumption patterns (page does not exist)

values: Overseas Development Assistance (page does not exist)

values:
/wiki/Sales_taxes
mw-redirect
Sales taxes

values:
/wiki/Republic_of_Congo
mw-redirect
Republic of Congo

values:
/wiki/Trade_liberalisation
mw-redirect
Trade liberalisation

values: The text near this tag needs further explanation. (November 2013)

values: Edit section: Tax administration in developing countries

values:
/wiki/Wealth_of_Nations
mw-redirect
Wealth of Nations

values: float: right; clear: right; margin: 0.5em 0 0.8em 1.4em; width:25%; padding: 10px; border: 1px solid #aaa; font-size: 88%; background-color: #F9F9F9; position: relative; text-align: left;

values:
/wiki/Social_development
mw-redirect
Social development

values:
/wiki/Oliver_Wendell_Holmes,_Jr.
mw-redirect
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

values:
/wiki/Social_democrats
mw-redirect
Social democrats

values:
/wiki/Tony_Crosland
mw-redirect
Tony Crosland

values: This claim needs references to reliable sources. (March 2011)

values:
/wiki/Property_rights
mw-redirect
Property rights

values: plainlinks metadata ambox ambox-content ambox-undue-weight

values:
/wiki/Public_education
mw-redirect
Public education

values:
/wiki/Public_healthcare
mw-redirect
Public healthcare

values:
/wiki/Demonstrated_preference
mw-redirect
Demonstrated preference

values:
/wiki/Government_success
mw-redirect
Government success

values:
/wiki/Public_goods
mw-redirect
Public goods

values: Real estate speculation (page does not exist)

values:
/wiki/Henry_George_Theorem
mw-redirect
Henry George Theorem

values:
/wiki/Land_value_taxation
mw-redirect
Land value taxation

values:
/wiki/Dead-weight_loss
mw-redirect
Dead-weight loss

values:
/wiki/Natural_resources
mw-redirect
Natural resources

values:
/wiki/Protective_tariffs
mw-redirect
Protective tariffs

values:
/wiki/Land_Value_Tax
mw-redirect
Land Value Tax

values:
/wiki/Business_cycles
mw-redirect
Business cycles

values:
/wiki/Social_liberals
mw-redirect
Social liberals

values:
/wiki/The_commons
mw-redirect
The commons

values:
/wiki/Classical_economic
mw-redirect
Classical economic

values:
/wiki/Mineral_deposits
mw-redirect
Mineral deposits

values:
/wiki/Water_bodies
mw-redirect
Water bodies

values:
/wiki/Pigouvian_taxes
mw-redirect
Pigouvian taxes

values: The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics

values: border-collapse: collapse; padding: 0; border: 0; background:transparent; width:100%;

values:
nofollow
external text
//ssrn.com/abstract=2551567

attrs: alt src title width height srcset data-file-width data-file-height

values:
nofollow
external text
http://labour.nic.in/ss/overview.html

values:
nofollow
external text
//www.jstor.org/stable/1813222

values: The material near this tag possibly uses too-vague attribution or weasel words. (September 2010)

values: Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Words to watch

values: The material near this tag possibly uses too-vague attribution or weasel words. (June 2011)

values:
/wiki/Economic_bubbles
mw-redirect
Economic bubbles

values:
/wiki/Federal_Reserve
mw-redirect
Federal Reserve

values:
nofollow
external text
//doi.org/10.2307%2F797614

values:
nofollow
external text
//www.jstor.org/stable/797614

values:
nofollow
external text
http://partnerplatform.org/?c158bbx3

values:
nofollow
external text
https://www.mises.org/story/2701

values:
/wiki/Ludwig_Von_Mises_Institute
mw-redirect
Ludwig Von Mises Institute

values:
nofollow
external text
//doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.jce.2006.10.006

values: s:The Wealth of Nations/Book V/Chapter 2

values:
nofollow
external text
//doi.org/10.2307%2F1884466

values:
nofollow
external text
//www.jstor.org/stable/1884466

values:
nofollow
external text
http://wordsofliberty.net

values: -moz-column-width: 30em; -webkit-column-width: 30em; column-width: 30em; list-style-type: decimal;

values:
plainlist
padding:0 0.1em 0.4em;text-align:left;

values: float:right;clear:right;width:auto;margin:0 0 1.0em 1.0em;background:#f9f9f9;border:1px solid #aaa;padding:0.2em;border-spacing:0.4em 0;text-align:center;line-height:1.4em;font-size:88%

values:
/wiki/Concise_Encyclopedia_of_Economics
mw-redirect
Concise Encyclopedia of Economics

values:
/wiki/Library_of_Economics_and_Liberty
mw-redirect
Library of Economics and Liberty

values:
nofollow
external text
//www.worldcat.org/oclc/237794267

values: Category:CS1 maint: Extra text: editors list

values: padding-bottom: 0.75em; text-align: center;

attrs: alt src width height style srcset data-file-width data-file-height

values: display: inline-block; width: 31px; line-height: 31px; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center;

values: display: inline-block; margin-left: 4px; width: 182px; vertical-align: middle;

values: border-top:1px solid #aaa; padding-top: 0.75em;

values: metadata plainlinks plainlist mbox-small

values: border:1px solid #aaa; padding:0.75em; background:#f9f9f9;

values:
nofollow
http://www.oecd.org/tax/
external text

values:
/wiki/State_property
mw-redirect
State property

values:
/wiki/Common_resources
mw-redirect
Common resources

values:
/wiki/Appropriation_(economics)
mw-redirect
Appropriation (economics)

values:
/wiki/Free_rider_problem
mw-redirect
Free rider problem

values: List of types of formally designated forests

values: The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006

values:
/wiki/Forced_migration
mw-redirect
Forced migration

values:
/wiki/Illegal_fishing
mw-redirect
Illegal fishing

values:
/wiki/Murray_N._Rothbard
mw-redirect
Murray N. Rothbard

values: nowraplinks hlist collapsible autocollapse navbox-inner mw-collapsible mw-made-collapsible

values:
nofollow
external text
https://d-nb.info/gnd/4057399-0

values: Category:3rd-millennium BC establishments in Egypt

values: Category:Webarchive template wayback links

values: Category:All articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases

values: Category:Articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases from September 2010

values: Category:Articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases from June 2011

values: Category:All articles with unsourced statements

values: Category:Articles with unsourced statements from December 2016

values: Category:All articles with vague or ambiguous time

values: Category:Vague or ambiguous time from December 2016

values: Category:Articles with unsourced statements from September 2016

values: Category:All articles with failed verification

values: Category:Articles with failed verification from June 2011

values: Category:Articles with unsourced statements from May 2010

values: Category:Articles with unsourced statements from January 2013

values: Category:Articles with unsourced statements from May 2016

values: Category:Articles with unsourced statements from October 2012

values: Category:Wikipedia articles needing clarification from November 2013

values: Category:Articles with unsourced statements from March 2011

values: Category:Articles needing POV-check from November 2012

values: Category:Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers

values: Category:Wikipedia articles with LCCN identifiers

values: Category:Wikipedia articles with NDL identifiers

values: Discussion about edits from this IP address [ctrl-alt-n]

values: A list of edits made from this IP address [ctrl-alt-y]

values: You are encouraged to create an account and log in; however, it is not mandatory

values: You're encouraged to log in; however, it's not mandatory. [ctrl-alt-o]

values:
/wiki/Tax
View the content page [ctrl-alt-c]
c

values: Discussion about the content page [ctrl-alt-t]

values: p-namespaces navigation vectorTabs p-namespaces-label

values:
p-variants
navigation
vectorMenu emptyPortlet
p-variants-label

values:
/w/index.php?title=Tax&action=edit
Edit this page [ctrl-alt-e]
e

values: Past revisions of this page [ctrl-alt-h]

values: p-views navigation vectorTabs p-views-label

values:
p-cactions
navigation
vectorMenu emptyPortlet
p-cactions-label

values:
mw-wiki-logo
/wiki/Main_Page
Visit the main page

values:
/wiki/Main_Page
Visit the main page [ctrl-alt-z]
z

values: Featured content – the best of Wikipedia

values: Find background information on current events

values:
/wiki/Special:Random
Load a random article [ctrl-alt-x]
x

values: portal navigation p-navigation p-navigation-label

values: Guidance on how to use and edit Wikipedia

values: portal navigation p-wikibase-otherprojects p-wikibase-otherprojects-label

values:
https://als.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steuer
Steuer – Alemannisch
als
als
interlanguage-link-target

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-als
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-am
display: none;

values: ضريبة – Arabic

values:
https://an.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impuesto
Impuesto – Aragonese
an
an
interlanguage-link-target

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-an
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-arc
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-as
display: none;

values:
https://ast.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impuestu
Impuestu – Asturian
ast
ast
interlanguage-link-target

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-ast
display: none;

values:
https://az.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vergi
Vergi – Azerbaijani
az
az
interlanguage-link-target

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-az
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-bn
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-zh-min-nan
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-ba
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-be
display: none;

values: Падатак – Belarusian (Taraškievica orthography)

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-be-x-old
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-bg
display: none;

values:
https://bs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porez
Porez – Bosnian
bs
bs
interlanguage-link-target

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-bs
display: none;

values:
https://br.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tell
Tell – Breton
br
br
interlanguage-link-target

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-br
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-bxr
display: none;

values:
https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impost
Impost – Catalan
ca
ca
interlanguage-link-target

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-ca
display: none;

values:
https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Da%C5%88
Daň – Czech
cs
cs
interlanguage-link-target

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-cs
display: none;

values:
https://cy.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treth
Treth – Welsh
cy
cy
interlanguage-link-target

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-cy
display: none;

values:
https://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skat
Skat – Danish
da
da
interlanguage-link-target

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-da
display: none;

values:
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steuer
Steuer – German
de
de
interlanguage-link-target

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-de
display: none;

values:
https://et.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maksud
Maksud – Estonian
et
et
interlanguage-link-target

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-et
display: none;

values: Φορολογία – Greek

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-el
display: none;

values:
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impuesto
Impuesto – Spanish
es
es
interlanguage-link-target

values:
https://eo.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imposto
Imposto – Esperanto
eo
eo
interlanguage-link-target

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-eo
display: none;

values:
https://eu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zerga
Zerga – Basque
eu
eu
interlanguage-link-target

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-eu
display: none;

values: مالیات – Persian

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-fa
display: none;

values:
https://hif.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax
Tax – Fiji Hindi
hif
hif
interlanguage-link-target

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-hif
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-fr
display: none;

values:
https://gl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imposto
Imposto – Galician
gl
gl
interlanguage-link-target

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-gl
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-ko
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-hy
display: none;

values:
https://hr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porez
Porez – Croatian
hr
hr
interlanguage-link-target

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-hr
display: none;

values:
https://io.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imposto
Imposto – Ido
io
io
interlanguage-link-target

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-io
display: none;

values:
https://ilo.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buis
Buis – Iloko
ilo
ilo
interlanguage-link-target

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-ilo
display: none;

values:
https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pajak
Pajak – Indonesian
id
id
interlanguage-link-target

values:
https://ia.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxa
Taxa – Interlingua
ia
ia
interlanguage-link-target

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-ia
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-os
display: none;

values:
https://is.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skattur
Skattur – Icelandic
is
is
interlanguage-link-target

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-is
display: none;

values:
https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imposta
Imposta – Italian
it
it
interlanguage-link-target

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-it
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-he
display: none;

values: ತೆರಿಗೆ – Kannada

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-kn
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-krc
display: none;

values: გადასახადი – Georgian

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-ka
display: none;

values: Салық – Kazakh

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-kk
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-sw
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-lo
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-lrc
display: none;

values:
https://la.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tributum
Tributum – Latin
la
la
interlanguage-link-target

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-la
display: none;

values:
https://lv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nodoklis
Nodoklis – Latvian
lv
lv
interlanguage-link-target

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-lv
display: none;

values:
https://lb.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steier
Steier – Luxembourgish
lb
lb
interlanguage-link-target

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-lb
display: none;

values:
https://lt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mokestis
Mokestis – Lithuanian
lt
lt
interlanguage-link-target

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-lt
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-li
display: none;

values:
https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad%C3%B3
Adó – Hungarian
hu
hu
interlanguage-link-target

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-hu
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-mk
display: none;

values:
https://mg.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hetra
Hetra – Malagasy
mg
mg
interlanguage-link-target

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-mg
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-ml
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-mr
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-arz
display: none;

values:
https://ms.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cukai
Cukai – Malay
ms
ms
interlanguage-link-target

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-mn
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-nl
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-ne
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-new
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-ja
display: none;

values:
https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skatt
Skatt – Norwegian
no
no
interlanguage-link-target

values: interlanguage-link interwiki-no badge-Q17437796 badge-featuredarticle

values:
https://nn.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skatt
Skatt – Norwegian Nynorsk
nn
nn
interlanguage-link-target

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-nn
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-oc
display: none;

values:
https://uz.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soliq
Soliq – Uzbek
uz
uz
interlanguage-link-target

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-uz
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-pa
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-pnb
display: none;

values: ورکړېنه – Pashto

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-ps
display: none;

values:
https://jam.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax
Tax – Jamaican Creole English
jam
jam
interlanguage-link-target

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-jam
display: none;

values:
https://pms.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taja
Taja – Piedmontese
pms
pms
interlanguage-link-target

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-pms
display: none;

values:
https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podatek
Podatek – Polish
pl
pl
interlanguage-link-target

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-pl
display: none;

values:
https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imposto
Imposto – Portuguese
pt
pt
interlanguage-link-target

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-pt
display: none;

values:
https://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impozit
Impozit – Romanian
ro
ro
interlanguage-link-target

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-ro
display: none;

values:
https://qu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impuwistu
Impuwistu – Quechua
qu
qu
interlanguage-link-target

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-qu
display: none;

values: Дань – Rusyn

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-rue
display: none;

values: Түһээн – Sakha

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-sah
display: none;

values:
https://sco.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax
Tax – Scots
sco
sco
interlanguage-link-target

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-sco
display: none;

values:
https://sq.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tatimi
Tatimi – Albanian
sq
sq
interlanguage-link-target

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-sq
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-si
display: none;

values:
https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax
Tax – Simple English
simple
simple
interlanguage-link-target

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-simple
display: none;

values:
https://sk.wikipedia.org/wiki/Da%C5%88
Daň – Slovak
sk
sk
interlanguage-link-target

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-sk
display: none;

values:
https://sl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davek
Davek – Slovenian
sl
sl
interlanguage-link-target

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-sl
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-so
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-ckb
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-sr
display: none;

values:
https://sh.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porez
Porez – Serbo-Croatian
sh
sh
interlanguage-link-target

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-sh
display: none;

values:
https://su.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pajeg
Pajeg – Sundanese
su
su
interlanguage-link-target

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-su
display: none;

values:
https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vero
Vero – Finnish
fi
fi
interlanguage-link-target

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-fi
display: none;

values:
https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skatt
Skatt – Swedish
sv
sv
interlanguage-link-target

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-sv
display: none;

values:
https://tl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buwis
Buwis – Tagalog
tl
tl
interlanguage-link-target

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-tl
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-ta
display: none;

values: Салым – Tatar

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-tt
display: none;

values: పన్ను (ఆర్థిక వ్యవస్థ) – Telugu

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-te
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-th
display: none;

values: Андоз – Tajik

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-tg
display: none;

values:
https://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vergi
Vergi – Turkish
tr
tr
interlanguage-link-target

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-tr
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-uk
display: none;

values: مالیات – Urdu

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-vi
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-war
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-wuu
display: none;

values: שטייער – Yiddish

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-yi
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-zh-yue
display: none;

values:
interlanguage-link interwiki-bat-smg
display: none;

values:
https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%A8%85
稅 – Chinese
zh
zh
interlanguage-link-target

values: All languages (initial selection from common choices by you and others)

values: /static/images/wikimedia-button-1.5x.png 1.5x, /static/images/wikimedia-button-2x.png 2x

values: /static/images/poweredby_mediawiki_132x47.png 1.5x, /static/images/poweredby_mediawiki_176x62.png 2x

values: mediawiki ltr sitedir-ltr mw-hide-empty-elt ns-0 ns-subject page-Tax rootpage-Tax skin-vector action-view