Tax Evasion in the Philippines, 1981-1985

From the administrative and policy perspective, determination of magnitude of tax evasion and an analysis of tax evasion levels are imperative so that authorities may evaluate the success or failure of the enforcement mechanism. This article discusses several approaches to and estimates of tax evasion.tariff structure, tax structure, taxation

The Tax Base in Transition: The Case of Bulgaria, World Bank Policy Research Working Paper Series No. 1267 (March 1994), The World Bank.

Meeting government revenue needs without inhibiting private sector development is a key challenge of tax policy during the transition from the socialist system. The paper explores issues in the design of tax bases and tax structures in the transition and argues that transition economies would need to adopt a lower and simpler tax structure than the ones prevailing in developed Western market economies.tax reform, tax policy, tax bases, tax structure, transition, Bulgaria

How Fiscal Decentralization Flattens Progressive Taxes

We study the tension between fiscal decentralization and progressive taxation. We present a multi-community model in which the local income tax rate is determined by an exogenous progressive tax schedule and a tax shifter that can differ across communities. The progressivity of the tax schedule induces a self-sorting process that results in substantial though imperfect income sorting. Rich households are more likely to locate themselves in low tax communities than poor households. The actual tax structure is thus less progressive than the exogenous tax schedule. To investigate the quantitative implications of our model, we calibrate a fully-specified version to the largest metropolitan area in Switzerland. The equilibrium values of the simulation show the same pattern across communities as we observe in this area. The theoretical result is challenged by estimating the actual tax structure faced by the households in this area. We find that the actual tax structure is indeed substantially less progressive than the fixed tax schedule.Progressive Taxation, Fiscal Decentralization, Income Segregation

Tax Evasion in the Philippines, 1981-1985

From the administrative and policy perspective, determination of magnitude of tax evasion and an analysis of tax evasion levels are imperative so that authorities may evaluate the success or failure of the enforcement mechanism. This article discusses several approaches to and estimates of tax evasion.tariff structure, tax structure, taxation

Political and institutional determinants of the tax mix : an empirical investigation for OECD countries

Modern tax systems show a mix of direct and indirect taxes. However, it is difficult if not impossible to explain actual tax systems on the ba-sis of optimality conditions. Political and institutional factors are some-times argued to explain the presence of very complex tax structures. Wepropose various hypotheses that relate the tax structure to some political and institutional explanatory variables. The hypotheses are tested by ap-plying panel data analysis on a large sample of OECD countries for the period 1965 to 1995. We conclude that political and institutional vari-ables do not substantially influence the actual shape of the tax structure.

Overview of the Federal Tax System

The major sources of federal tax revenue are individual income taxes, Social Security and other payroll taxes, corporate income taxes, excise taxes, and estate and gift taxes. This report describes the federal tax structure, provides some statistics on the tax system as a whole, and presents analysis of selected tax concepts

Tax competition when firms choose their organizational form: Should tax loopholes for multinationals be closed?

We analyze a sequential game between two symmetric countries when firms can invest in a multinational structure that confers tax savings. Governments are able to commit to long-run tax discrimination policies before firms' decisions are made and before statutory capital tax rates are chosen non-cooperatively. Whether a coordinated reduction in the tax preferences granted to mobile firms is beneficial or harmful for the competing countries depends critically on the elasticity with which the firms' organizational structure responds to tax discrimination incentives. The model can be applied to recent policy initiatives that aim at a ban on preferential tax regimes and at reducing the profit shifting opportunities for multinational firms

Measuring Tax Efficiency: A Tax Optimality Index

This paper introduces an index of tax optimality that measures the distance of a current tax structure from the optimal tax structure in the presence of public goods. In doing so, we derive a [0,1] number that reveals immediately how far the current tax configuration is from the optimal one and, thereby, the degree of efficiency of a tax system. We call this number the Tax Optimality Index. We show how the basic method can be altered in order to derive a revenue equivalent uniform tax, which measures the size of the public sector. A numerical example is used to illustrate the method developed.tax optimality index, excess burden, distance function