Tax Reform in Israel

1976 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 187-215
Author(s):  
Amnon E. Rafael
Keyword(s):  
Income Tax ◽  
Tax Reform ◽  
Israeli Society ◽  
Tax System ◽  
The Past

The Israeli income tax system has been criticized as one of the main causes of the shortcomings of Israeli society. Moral decadence, corruption, disregard for truth, the drive towards materialism, the decline of long-established values, acquiescence in injustice and the widening of the gap between the “haves” and the “have nots”—to name but a few—have been ascribed to it. Rarely has a tax system as such, been credited with the ability to contribute so little good. Admittedly, the tax system became an easy scapegoat to blame for the weaknesses of Israeli society. More than the tax system has gone wrong; the very fibre of Israeli society has come under a strain for which Israelis were ill-prepared. It would therefore be more accurate to describe the Israeli tax scene during the past few years as one of the symptoms of the malady, but not as the sickness itself.

Preferences, Tax Structure and Tax Reform: Theory and Evidence

1975 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 56-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shlomo Maital
Keyword(s):  
Tax Reform ◽  
Tax Structure ◽  
Indirect Taxation ◽  
Tax System ◽  
The Past ◽  
Pure Public Good ◽  
Indirect Taxes ◽  
Current Shift ◽  
Optimal Tax Structure ◽  
The U.S

When the structure of tax revenues–the proportion of revenues earned by income, consumption and wealth taxes–is treated as a pure public good, a useful framework emerges for analyzing interrelationships among taxpayers' preferences, tax structure and tax reform. The “optimal” tax structure is defined and used to outline several conjectures about the current shift from direct to indirect taxation, evident particularly in Europe. Attention is then focused on the U.S. tax system. The structure of the tax system is shown to have changed very little in the past two decades. In contrast, interview surveys carried out over the past thirty years indicated a long-standing shift in taxpayers' preferences toward indirect taxes. Implications are drawn regarding tax reform.

Tax Expenditures and the Tax Reform Act of 1969 in the United States

2022 ◽  
pp. 1-26
Author(s):  
Seiichiro Mozumi
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Income Tax ◽  
Public Perception ◽  
Tax Reform ◽  
The United States ◽  
Tax Revenue ◽  
Tax System ◽  
Federal Income Tax ◽  
Federal Taxation ◽  
The Government

Abstract In the United States, tax favoritism—an approach that has weakened the extractive capacity of the federal government by providing tax loopholes and preferences for taxpayers—has remained since the 1930s. It has consumed the amount of tax revenue the government can spend and therefore weakened the possibility of the redistribution of fiscal resources. It has also made the federal tax system complicated and inequitable, resulting in undermining taxpayer consent. Therefore, since the 1930s, a tax reform to create a simple, fair, and equitable federal income tax system with the capacity to raise revenue has been long overdue. Many scholars have evaluated the Tax Reform Act of 1969 (TRA69), which Richard M. Nixon signed into law on December 30, 1969, as one of the most successful steps toward accomplishing this goal. This article demonstrates that TRA69 left tax favoritism in the United States. Furthermore, it points out that TRA69 turned taxpayers against the idea of federal taxation, a shift in public perception that greatly impacted tax reform in the years to follow.

scholarly journals The Structure of the Tax System Versus the Level of Taxation: An Evaluation of the 1986 Act

1992 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Gregory Ballentine
Keyword(s):  
Tax Policy ◽  
Income Tax ◽  
Tax Reform ◽  
High Income ◽  
Tax Structure ◽  
Corporate Tax ◽  
Policy Goal ◽  
Tax System ◽  
System Versus ◽  
The Future

In this paper, I assess the 1986 Tax Reform Act relative to the tax system that might have evolved over the several years following 1986 had that particular tax reform not been enacted. Had tax reform not been enacted, I believe that the pattern of steady tax increases, particularly corporate tax increases and tax increases on high-income individuals such as occurred in the 1982 and 1984 tax acts would have continued. I also believe that the 1986 Tax Reform Act introduced an income tax system that will be quite stable; broad changes, in particular changes that raise a large amount of income tax revenues, are unlikely for many years. So I am comparing the tax structure of the 1986 Tax Reform Act to a system that, in part, has an inferior structure, but that provides more revenues. Since I believe that the most important tax policy goal in 1986 and later should have been to raise revenues, not to revise the structure of the tax system, I believe that the 1986 Tax Reform Act was harmful. Tax reform not only did not raise revenues, it has made it more difficult to raise revenues in the future, without providing significant offsetting benefits.

scholarly journals Did the Tax Reform Act of 1986 Simplify Tax Matters?

1992 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joel Slemrod
Keyword(s):  
Financial Planning ◽  
Income Tax ◽  
Tax Reform ◽  
Compliance Cost ◽  
Tax System

This paper attempts to assess whether the Tax Reform Act of 1986 simplified tax matters significantly, or at all. I conclude that, despite a few scattered signs that tax-related financial planning has declined, the compliance cost of the income tax system is probably higher now than it was in the early 1980s. This suggests that the Tax Reform Act achieved little, if any, simplification in the tax system, although it remains possible that the Act dampened what would have been an even greater increase in compliance cost.

The Size of Government, Capital Accumulation, and the Tax Base

1983 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 321-345 ◽  
Author(s):  
David C. L. Nellor
Keyword(s):  
Tax Policy ◽  
Income Tax ◽  
Capital Accumulation ◽  
Tax Reform ◽  
Consumption Tax ◽  
Size Of Government ◽  
Tax Base ◽  
Tax System ◽  
Policy Concern

A central tax policy concern is the role of particular tax bases in either stimulating or discouraging capital accumulation. While the consumption tax has been proposed as superior to the income tax in terms of its treatment of saving, the literature has shown that whether a consumption or income-based tax system is associated with greater capital accumulation is theoretically indeterminate. This article incorporates the role of public accumulation and changing government activities into its analysis of capital accumulation, which enables this ambiguity to be resolved. An examination of U.S. data for the 1929–1978 period suggests that had inflation adjustment of the income tax been adopted it would, contrary to the implication of several tax reform proposals, have resulted in greater accumulation than the implementation of a consumption tax.

Incentive to Finance under the Shoup Corporate Income Tax Concept—Focus on Shoup Semi-Imputation Credit Method

1992 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 341-362
Author(s):  
Konosuke Kimura
Keyword(s):  
Income Tax ◽  
Tax Reform ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Corporate Income Tax ◽  
Historical Period ◽  
Columbia University ◽  
World War ◽  
Corporate Tax ◽  
Tax System ◽  
Second World

Reform of the Japanese tax system was undertaken after the second World War and was greatly influenced by Carl Shoup, then Professor at Columbia University. Shoup’s recommendations were made during a unique historical period which allowed for an experimental designing of tax reform in Japan to occur under occupation. In this article we review and criticize Shoup’s recommendations and explain the problems inherent in their implementation. Cultural transference problems such as attempted imputation of corporate tax to individual income tax based on the theory of net asset increases tax are discussed. Comparisons are also made with French and German imputation credit methods.

scholarly journals Addressing inequality and poverty with tax instruments

2011 ◽  
Vol 56 (190) ◽  
pp. 7-26
Author(s):  
Sasa Randjelovic ◽  
Jelena Zarkovic-Rakic
Keyword(s):  
Income Tax ◽  
Poverty Reduction ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Tax Reform ◽  
Empirical Literature ◽  
Tax System ◽  
Distributional Effects ◽  
Flat Tax ◽  
Tax Rate ◽  
Comprehensive Income

There is a consensus, in both academia and economic policy circles, that the reform of the personal income tax system in Serbia is necessary one. Two frequently discussed reform scenarios are East European style flat tax and the comprehensive income tax model of Western Europe. Most Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries have recently reformed their income tax systems by introducing some form of flat tax scheme, while in numerous countries of Western Europe the possibility of flat tax reform is also seriously considered. Opponents of the reform usually stress the adverse distributional effects of flat tax schemes. The aim of our paper is to contribute to the empirical literature on the distributional effects of alternative tax reform scenarios. The analysis is based on the tax and benefit micro-simulation model for Serbia (SRMOD). The results suggest that redesigning the existing income tax system so as to introduce a uniform tax rate and increase the basic allowance would somewhat reduce inequality and improve vertical inequity in taxation. On the other hand, in the case of the introduction of comprehensive income tax, considerably larger equalizing and progressivity effects would be achieved. At the same time, since in both cases redistribution will not affect the bottom decile group, no significant effects (in either cases) on poverty reduction will be achieved.

scholarly journals Growth-Enhancing Corporate Tax Reform in Belgium

2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruud De Mooij ◽  
Shafik Hebous ◽  
Milena Hrdinkova
Keyword(s):  
Public Finance ◽  
Economic Growth ◽  
Income Tax ◽  
Tax Reform ◽  
Corporate Income Tax ◽  
Tax Rates ◽  
Corporate Tax ◽  
Tax System ◽  
Corporate Tax Reform ◽  
The Government

Abstract Until 2018, Belgium had a unique corporate income tax system due to its notional interest deduction, also known in public finance literature as the allowance for corporate equity. At the same time, it had one of the highest corporate tax rates in Europe at 34 percent. The latter came under severe pressure to reform and, as of 2018, the government has started to reduce the rate, gradually to reach 25 percent in 2020. The reduction is accompanied by other measures, including a limitation of the notional interest deduction. This paper argues that the lower CIT rate is likely to be conducive to economic growth. Yet, the effects on growth would have been more favorable if the notional interest deduction would have been strengthened, rather than diminished.

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