The Political Economy Of Transnational Tax Reform

This volume of essays explores the history of the US tax mission to Japan during the occupation following World War II. Under General MacArthur, economist Carl S. Shoup led the mission with the charge of framing a tax system for Japan designed to strengthen democracy and accelerate economic recovery. The volume examines the sources, conduct and effects of the mission and situates the mission within the history of international financial and fiscal reform. The book begins by establishing the context of progressive social investigations of taxation, including Shoup's earlier tax missions to France and Cuba. It then goes on to explore the Japanese background to the Shoup mission and the process by which American and Japanese tax experts shaped their recommendations. The book then assesses and explains the mission's accomplishments in the context of the political economies of the United States and Japan. It concludes by analyzing the global implications of the mission, which became iconic among international tax reformers.

The rapid emergence of East Asia as an important geopolitical-economic entity has been one of the most visible and striking changes in the international economy in recent years. With that emergence has come an increased need for understanding the problems of interdependence. As a step toward meeting this need, the National Bureau of Economic Research joined with the Korea Development Institute to sponsor this volume, which focuses on the complexities of tax reform in a global economy. Experts from Taiwan, Korea, the Philippines, Japan, and Thailand, as well as the United States, Canada, and Israel examine the major tax programs of the 1980s and their domestic and international economic effects. The analyses reveal similarities between the United States and countries in East Asia in political constraints on policy making, and taken together they show how growing interdependence interacts with domestic economic and political concerns to affect issues as politically vital as tax reform. Economists, policymakers, and members of the business community will benefit from these studies.

Providing light to a subject that is not often enough discussed, The Political Economy of Taxation is packed cover to cover with thoughtful information, and a core addition to any international economic studies collection. The Midwest Book Review Paola Profeta and Simona Scabrosetti have provided us with a novel comparative analysis of the tax systems in Asia, Latin America and the new EU countries. Anyone who wants to know how contemporary empirical models can be used to study the political economy of the tax mix in developing and transition economies will want to read this book. Stanley Winer, Carleton University, Canada In this original book, Paola Profeta and Simona Scabrosetti use data and information on political institutions from developing and new EU member countries to investigate the political economy of taxation. How do political institutions influence tax burdens and tax structures? They generate highly interesting results. . . I am sure that this innovative book will attract the attention of many experts interested in taxation, regardless of the professional field to which they are anchored. I expect this book will be cited often. Vito Tanzi, International Institute of Public Finance, US Taxation is a major issue in the economic and political spheres. This book focuses on a sample of developing countries from Asia and Latin America that experienced an economic and democratic transition during the period 1990 2004. Using a unique dataset the authors show that tax revenue is higher in more democratic regimes, consistent with the standard view that democracies have to satisfy the redistributive needs of the electorate. They also find that a second relationship between the level of democracy and the composition of taxes (mainly direct versus indirect) is much harder to predict. However, a comparison with new EU member states suggests that more mature democracies are associated with higher levels of direct tax. This unique book in a relatively under-researched subject area will prove essential reading for academics, researchers and practitioners focusing on political economy, public finance and the economics of taxation.

This book provides a historical understanding of current debates over tax reform and offers a comparative framework for discussing the relationship between fiscal policy and the distribution of income and wealth. Topics covered include the evolution of income taxation since World War II; the turn toward value added taxation; the relationship between tax reform and the construction of welfare states; the impact of globalization on tax and fiscal policy; the social forces shaping tax consent; and the political economy of tax and fiscal reform. These topics are covered in case studies that focus on significant episodes in the fiscal history of Denmark, Sweden, France, Greece, the United Kingdom, Spain, Switzerland, the United States, and Japan.

Covering the period from the 1920s, when international tax policy was solely about avoiding double taxation, to the present era of international tax competition, Rixen investigates the fate of 'the power to tax' in an era of globalization, illustrating that tax sovereignty is both shaped and constrained by an international tax regime.

This study of taxation in Latin America takes a novel approach to the subject, using a framework that posits three dimensions for studying taxes—historical, relational, and transnational. The book argues that: first, taxation should be understood as a relational concept and tax systems as a function of a strategic nexus between the state and society; second, that any analysis of tax systems across Latin America needs to take historical legacies of national tax systems into account; and finally, that transnational phenomena have significant implications for tax regime dynamics in Latin America. The essays included provide diverse and representative insights for a new understanding of taxation in Latin America and highlight the bottlenecks to the development of sustainable tax systems in the region, exploring new links between academic research and policy-making.

This book presents 15 original papers and commentaries by a distinguished group of tax policy and tax administration experts. Using international examples, they highlight the state of knowledge of tax reform, present new thinking about the issue, and analyze useful policy options. The book’s general goal is to examine the current and emerging challenges facing tax reformers and to assess possible directions future reforms are likely to take. More specific themes include distributional issues, how to tax capital income, how to design specific taxes (e.g., the income tax, the value-added tax, the property tax), how to consider the politics and administrative aspects of tax reform, and how to combine the separate insights into comprehensive tax reform.

'Taxing Reforms is a good short book about the comparative policies of Value Added Taxation (VAT) in Australia, Canada, Japan and the United States. . . Taxing Reforms is a fine book, well worth reading, especially for specialists in the comparative political economy of taxation. . . its richly detailed case studies will make it a fruitful source of comparative hypotheses.' - Isaac W. Martin, Journal of Economic Literature