Corporate income tax and the taxation of income from capital:Some evidence from the past reforms and the present debate on corporate income taxation in Belgium.

Any assessment of the effects of a tax reform has to be based on indicators of effective taxation. Various indicators have been developed to measure the effective taxation of income from capital. This paper briefly reviews their properties, before turning to an evaluation of the effects of the corporate income tax reform in Belgium in the nineties. Our analysis concludes that the tax reform had some success in raising more revenue in a more neutral way by repealing tax expenditures provisions so that the gap between the nominal and effective corporate tax rate narrowed. On the methodological side, our analysis concludes that there is no ideal effective tax rate: implicit tax rates based on macro-economic data and marginal and average effective tax rates are complementary indicators and should be used jointly to assess the effects of tax reforms.European Union, Tax policy, effective tax rates, implicit tax rates analysis, Corporate Taxation

What makes Personal Income Taxes progressive? The case of Belgium

In this paper we investigate the progressivity impact of various components of the Belgian personal income tax system, before and after a major reform of this system. The reform reduced the top tax rates, broadened the tax base and increased tax credits. We show that, contrary to the opinion, commonly expressed in public debates, the reform did not reduce the liability progression of the system and that the rate structure is relatively unimportant in explaining progressivity.

What Makes Personal Income Taxes Progressive? the Case of Belgium.

In this paper we investigate the progressivity impact of various components of the Belgian personal income tax system, before and after a major reform of this system. The reform reduced the top tax rates, broadened the tax base and increased tax credits. We show that, contrary to the opinion, commonly expressed in public debates, the reform did not reduce the liability progression of the system and that the rate structure is relatively unimportant in explaining progressivity.

The James Webb Space Telescope Mission

Twenty-six years ago a small committee report, building on earlier studies, expounded a compelling and poetic vision for the future of astronomy, calling for an infrared-optimized space telescope with an aperture of at least $4m$. With the support of their governments in the US, Europe, and Canada, 20,000 people realized that vision as the $6.5m$ James Webb Space Telescope. A generation of astronomers will celebrate their accomplishments for the life of the mission, potentially as long as 20 years, and beyond. This report and the scientific discoveries that follow are extended thank-you notes to the 20,000 team members. The telescope is working perfectly, with much better image quality than expected. In this and accompanying papers, we give a brief history, describe the observatory, outline its objectives and current observing program, and discuss the inventions and people who made it possible. We cite detailed reports on the design and the measured performance on orbit.Comment: Accepted by PASP for the special issue on The James Webb Space Telescope Overview, 29 pages, 4 figure

Politique fiscale et qualité des recettes publiques : éléments d'évaluation et propositions de réforme

Ce chapitre a trait à la politique fiscale et la qualité des recettes publiques : il présente des éléments d'évaluation et des propositions de réform