scholarly journals Employment Structure and the Rise of the Modern Tax System

2022 ◽  
Vol 112 (1) ◽  
pp. 213-234
Author(s):  
Anders Jensen
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Time Series ◽  
Income Distribution ◽  
Income Tax ◽  
The United States ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Tax Base ◽  
Tax System ◽  
Income Levels ◽  
Long Run

This paper builds a new microdatabase that covers 100 countries at all income levels and long-run time series in the United States (1870–2010) and Mexico ( 1960–2010) to document how the modern tax system arises over development. I establish a new set of stylized facts, which show that the income tax exemption threshold decreases in the income distribution as a country develops, tracking growth in the employee share of employment that occurs gradually further down the income distribution. Additional evidence supports the interpretation that the rise in third-party covered income through increases in employee share drives expansions of the income tax base over development. (JEL D31, H23, H24, H71, J22, J23, N40)

Individual Income Tax Erosion: By Income Class in Japan

1979 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 303-322
Author(s):  
Hiromitsu Ishi
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Income Tax ◽  
The United States ◽  
Tax Law ◽  
Major Conclusion ◽  
Tax Base ◽  
Tax System ◽  
Distributional Effects ◽  
Individual Income ◽  
Income Class

In Japan, as well as in the United States, the introduction of special provisions of the tax law has resulted in erosion of the tax base and tax yield. It is expected that tax erosion tends to destroy the equity of the existing income tax system. In this article, estimates of income tax erosion by income class for 1972 and 1975 are made from Japanese tax data. The major conclusion of this study is that the distributional effects of erosion of the Japanese income tax are quite similar to those in the United States.

scholarly journals Further Evidence Supporting The Replacement Of The Federal Tax System With A Consumption Tax Base

2011 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 12
Author(s):  
Julia K. Brazelton
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Regression Analysis ◽  
Income Tax ◽  
The United States ◽  
Tax Structure ◽  
Consumption Tax ◽  
Tax Base ◽  
Tax System ◽  
Analysis Techniques ◽  
The Impact

This study examines the primary considerations accompanying implementation of a consumption-based federal tax system. Additionally, theoretical and empirical (including graphs, derivates, and regression analysis) techniques are used to evaluate a consumption tax structure in the United States. The evidence presented supports such a system; however, the publics misperceptions concerning the impact and mechanics and the legislative bodys unwillingness to entertain a consumption tax proposal will probably further delay serious consideration for replacement of the income tax with a consumption tax.

scholarly journals Is This Tax Reform, or Just Confusion?

2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 73-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joel Slemrod
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Tax Reform ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Will ◽  
Tax Base ◽  
Tax System ◽  
The Law ◽  
Jobs Act ◽  
Tax Cuts

Based on the experience of recent decades, the United States apparently musters the political will to change its tax system comprehensively about every 30 years, so it seems especially important to get it right when the chance arises. Based on the strong public statements of economists opposing and supporting the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, a causal observer might wonder whether this law was tax reform or mere confusion. In this paper, I address that question and, more importantly, offer an assessment of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The law is clearly not “tax reform” as economists usually use that term: that is, it does not seek to broaden the tax base and reduce marginal rates in a roughly revenue-neutral manner. However, the law is not just a muddle. It seeks to address some widely acknowledged issues with corporate taxation, and takes some steps toward broadening the tax base, in part by reducing the incentive to itemize deductions.

scholarly journals The Double Irish and Dutch Sandwich tax strategies: Could a general anti-avoidance rule counteract the problems caused by the utilisation of these structures?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Danielle Thorne
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Income Tax ◽  
Multinational Enterprises ◽  
Current System ◽  
The United States ◽  
Tax System ◽  
Tax Havens ◽  
Intangible Resources ◽  
And Control ◽  
Tax Structures

<p>This paper analyses the Double Irish and Dutch Sandwich tax structures used by large multinational enterprises. These structures enable companies to shift significant profits to offshore tax havens through the use of wholly owned subsidiaries in Ireland and the Netherlands. Application of the New Zealand General Anti-Avoidance rule in s BG 1 of the Income Tax Act 2007 reveals that any attempt to counteract these structures would be highly fact dependent. The paper concludes that it would be possible to apply the rule, but that there would be practical difficulties in relation to enforceability of the Commissioner’s ruling. A similar result was reached when applying the United States General Anti-Avoidance rule. The attempted application of the General Anti-Avoidance rules reveals a fundamental flaw in the income tax system. That is, the inability of the current system to regulate and control intangible resources and technology based transactions.</p>

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.

Evidence on Income Inequality in the United States, 1866–1965

1969 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 279-286 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lee C. Soltow
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Civil War ◽  
Income Inequality ◽  
Income Distribution ◽  
Income Tax ◽  
Wealth Distribution ◽  
The United States ◽  
Turn Of The Century ◽  
Personal Income ◽  
Income Groups

It is commonly thought that income distribution among people became more concentrated after the Civil War and that this direction continued until the turn of the century. We can look methodically at the income tax distributions from the Civil War period and compare them directly with the distributions arising from the income tax after 1912. We also have some data from the abortive income tax of 1894. After examining the various blocks of evidence, the conclusion will be made that inequality among upper-income groups did not increase during this period. It is necessary to emphasize that the present investigation is one of income and not of wealth. It might have been possible for the nonhuman wealth distribution among people to remain constant or to increase in inequality while the personal income distribution was decreasing in inequality.

scholarly journals How Progressive is the U.S. Federal Tax System? A Historical and International Perspective

2007 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Piketty ◽  
Emmanuel Saez
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Income Tax ◽  
The United States ◽  
Tax Rates ◽  
Tax System ◽  
Tax Progressivity ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Income Groups ◽  
The U.S

This paper provides estimates of federal tax rates by income groups in the United States since 1960, with special emphasis on very top income groups. We include individual and corporate income taxes, payroll taxes, and estate and gift taxes. The progressivity of the U.S. federal tax system at the top of the income distribution has declined dramatically since the 1960s. This dramatic drop in progressivity is due primarily to a drop in corporate taxes and in estate and gift taxes combined with a sharp change in the composition of top incomes away from capital income and toward labor income. The sharp drop in statutory top marginal individual income tax rates has contributed only moderately to the decline in tax progressivity. International comparisons confirm that is it critical to take into account other taxes than the individual income tax to properly assess the extent of overall tax progressivity, both for time trends and for cross-country comparisons. The pattern for the United Kingdom is similar to the U.S. pattern. France had less progressive taxes than the United States or the United Kingdom in 1970 but has experienced an increase in tax progressivity and has now a more progressive tax system than the United States or the United Kingdom.

scholarly journals Reassessing the Fair Tax

2016 ◽  
Vol 77 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph R. Santoro ◽  
Caleb S. Fuller
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Income Tax ◽  
The United States ◽  
The State ◽  
Tax Base ◽  
Ultimate Ownership ◽  
Optimal Tax ◽  
Austrian Tradition

In the United States, debates over the optimal tax-base have raged since the implementation of the income tax in 1913. Recently, the controversy has centered around the Fair Tax. Advocates of the Fair Tax contend that it will achieve two goals. First, they claim it will maintain revenue neutrality. Second, they claim it will tax only consumption rather than impinging on income and savings. In this paper, we use insights from the Austrian tradition of economics to question the desirability of the first claim and to question the feasibility of the second claim. We conclude that debates over taxation in general would be more fruitful if they returned to more fundamental issues—namely the quantity of resources over which the state possesses ultimate ownership.

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