Democratic Choice and Taxation

Democratic Choice and Taxation PDF Author: Walter Hettich
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521622913
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 345

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Book Description
This work examines tax policies and tax systems as they arise from democratic choices, set against the background of a market economy. Professors Hettich and Winer find that democratic institutions yield complex tax systems with features that follow a varied but predictable pattern. In developing their analysis, the authors use formal modelling of voting behavior, emphasizing recent advances in the theory of probabilistic voting. This book differs from the available tax literature by relating fiscal choices directly to voting and by examining tax systems in democratic countries from a variety of perspectives. While the authors primarily focus on explaining observed features of tax systems, they also devote considerable space to the discussion of the welfare and efficiency effects of taxation in the presence of collective choice, and to a review of other models and of the related literature. In addition, they use computational general equilibrium analysis and statistical research on national and state governments in the US and Canada to link theory to empirical data.

Democratic Choice and Taxation

Democratic Choice and Taxation PDF Author: Walter Hettich
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521622913
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 345

Get Book Here

Book Description
This work examines tax policies and tax systems as they arise from democratic choices, set against the background of a market economy. Professors Hettich and Winer find that democratic institutions yield complex tax systems with features that follow a varied but predictable pattern. In developing their analysis, the authors use formal modelling of voting behavior, emphasizing recent advances in the theory of probabilistic voting. This book differs from the available tax literature by relating fiscal choices directly to voting and by examining tax systems in democratic countries from a variety of perspectives. While the authors primarily focus on explaining observed features of tax systems, they also devote considerable space to the discussion of the welfare and efficiency effects of taxation in the presence of collective choice, and to a review of other models and of the related literature. In addition, they use computational general equilibrium analysis and statistical research on national and state governments in the US and Canada to link theory to empirical data.

Public Finance in Democratic Process

Public Finance in Democratic Process PDF Author: James M. Buchanan
Publisher: UNC Press Books
ISBN: 1469619148
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 322

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Book Description
Studies of public finance, as traditionally developed, have analyzed the effects of fiscal institutions on the market-choice behavior of individuals and firms, but this book takes a different approach. It analyzes the effects of fiscal institutions on the political-choice behavior of individuals as they participate variously in the decision-making processes of democracies. What effect will the form of a new tax have on individuals' attitudes toward more or less public spending? To what extent does the private sector--public sector mix depend on the way in which tax payments are made? How do the various taxes affect the fiscal consciousness of individual citizens? These are questions that have been ignored for the most part. They are, nonetheless, important and worthy of examination. This book is an attempt to provide some provisional answers. By the use of simplified models of existing tax institutions, Buchanan predicts the effects that these exert on individual behavior in the area of political choice. The relative effects of direct and indirect taxes, the "old tax--new tax" distinction, the effects of fiscal earmarking, the effects of unbalanced budgets -- these are a few of the topics examined. Before these questions can be fully answered, research must be conducted to find out just how much individuals know about the taxes they pay and the benefits they receive. Comparatively little research of this kind has been completed, but the author devotes a chapter to a careful review of the present state of this sort of research. Individuals' choice among alternative fiscal institutions is examined in the second part of the book. If given the opportunity, how would the individual choose to pay his or her taxes? Progressive income taxes, excise taxes, and public debt are analyzed in terms of this question. Because of its interdisciplinary approach, this imaginative study will be of interest to both economists and political scientists.

Autocratic, Democratic, and Optimal Government

Autocratic, Democratic, and Optimal Government PDF Author: William A. Niskanen
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 168

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Book Description
This book presents simple models of the major alternative types of political regimes, estimates of the parameters of these models, and quantitative estimates of the fiscal choices and economic outcomes of these regimes. William Niskanen provides valuable analysis of the effects of the voting rule, the progressivity of the tax structure, and the length of the fiscal horizon in democratic governments and interesting insights of the effects of alternative regimes on policies, such as war and immigration, that affect the number of people subject to the regime. Economists and political scientists who specialize in public finance, public choice, and the comparative analysis of political regimes will find much to engage them in this book.

Politics, Taxation, and the Rule of Law

Politics, Taxation, and the Rule of Law PDF Author: Donald P. Racheter
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1461510694
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 273

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Book Description
Public Interest Institute began operations in 1992 as Iowa's only state-level, independent, research organization. As a public-policy research organization, our four principal goals are to become an information and analysis resource for all Iowans; provide local, state, and national policy-makers with a rigorous, objective, and understandable analysis of specific policy initiatives; identify practical alternatives for action on critical issues; and provide a forum for policy-makers and individuals to share ideas and concerns. The Institute promotes the importance of a free-enterprise economic system and its relationship to a free and democratic society. It seeks to support the proper role of a limited government in a society based upon individual freedom and liberty. Concerned citizens are challenged to become better informed about public issues, for ideas have consequences, and involved individuals can make a difference. Following the general treatment of how to achieve these ideals contained in LIMITING LEVIATHAN, we have continued our series of books designed to examine the topics raised there in greater depth. In FEDERALIST GOVERNMENT IN PRINCIPLE AND PRACTICE we developed the ways in which dividing governmental power between levels such as national and state can help citizens preserve their freedoms. In this volume we develop the ways in which property rights do the same.

Taxation and Democracy

Taxation and Democracy PDF Author: Sven Steinmo
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 9780300067217
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
Examining the structure, politics and historic development of taxation in several countries, this book compares three quite different political democracies. It provides an account of the ways these democracies have financed their welfare programs despite w

The Political Economy of Taxation

The Political Economy of Taxation PDF Author: Stanley L. Winer
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description


Taxation

Taxation PDF Author: Martin O'Neill
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192557629
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 409

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Book Description
This is the first book to give a collective treatment of philosophical issues relating to tax. The tax system is central to the operation of states and to the ways in which states interact with individual citizens. Taxes are used by states to fund the provision of public goods and public services, to engage in direct or indirect forms of redistribution, and to mould the behaviour of individual citizens. As the contributors to this volume show, there are a number of pressing and thorny philosophical issues relating to the tax system, and these issues often connect in fascinating ways with foundational questions regarding property rights, public justification, democracy, state neutrality, stability, political psychology, and other moral and political issues. Many of these deep and fascinating philosophical questions about tax have not received as much sustained attention as they clearly merit. The aim of advancing the debate about tax in political philosophy has both general and more specific aspects, ranging across both over-arching issues regarding the tax system as a whole and more specific issues relating to particular forms of tax policy. Thinking clearly about tax is not an easy task, as much that is of central importance is missed if one proceeds at too great a level of abstraction, and issues of conceptual and normative importance often only come sharply into focus when viewed against real-world questions of implementation and feasibility. Serious philosophical work on the tax system will often therefore need to be interdisciplinary, and so the discussion in this book includes a number of scholars whose expertise spans across neighbouring disciplines to philosophy, including political science, economics, public policy, and law.

Public Finance in a Democratic Society

Public Finance in a Democratic Society PDF Author: Richard Abel Musgrave
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 536

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Book Description
Collects 28 reprinted essays written by Musgrave (political economy, emeritus, Harvard U. and economics, U. of California-Santa Cruz) dating as far back as 1972 but primarily written in the late 1990s. The initial essays address the larger picture of the nature and function of fiscal institutions, drawing on fiscal thought represented by German Finanzwissenschaft, Wicksell's Scandinavian model, and the utilitarian base of the British model and its Pigouvian synthesis of equitable and efficient taxation. Next, aspects of tax equity and distributive justice are covered. Considerations of fiscal issues posed by the spatial and vertical organization of the state are also presented, followed by treatment of budget growth and the popular claim that budgets tend to be too large. Essays in the concluding section focus on the ever-present problem of tax reform, particularly the norms of "good" policy and how it can best be reached in practice. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Building Tax Culture, Compliance and Citizenship A Global Source Book on Taxpayer Education, Second Edition

Building Tax Culture, Compliance and Citizenship A Global Source Book on Taxpayer Education, Second Edition PDF Author: OECD
Publisher: OECD Publishing
ISBN: 9264724788
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 150

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Book Description
Widespread voluntary tax compliance plays a significant role in countries’ efforts to raise the revenues necessary to achieve Sustainable Development Goals. As part of this process, governments are increasingly reaching out to taxpayers – current and future – to teach, communicate and assist them in order to foster a “culture of compliance” based on rights and responsibilities, in which citizens see paying taxes as an integral aspect of their relationship with their government.

Fair Not Flat

Fair Not Flat PDF Author: Edward J. McCaffery
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226555666
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 194

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Book Description
Everyone knows that the current tax system is unfair. Some of the richest people in America pay no tax, while a huge share of the tax burden falls on the rest of us. A mere glance at the tax code confirms that it is far too complex, with volumes of rules that no ordinary person could possibly comprehend. What is to be done? Some conservatives have called for a so-called flat tax. But a flat tax is not necessarily a simple tax, and "flat" means "more" for most taxpayers: a rise in middle-class taxes to finance tax cuts for the rich. Is there another choice? In clear, easy-to-understand language, Edward J. McCaffery proposes a straightforward and fair alternative. A "fair not flat" tax that is consistent and progressive would tax spending, not income and savings. And if it were collected at its lower levels through a national sales tax, most people would not have to file a return. A supplemental tax on spending for the wealthiest individuals would make the national sales tax progressive. Under McCaffery's system, a family of four would pay no tax on their first $20,000 in spending, and 15 percent on the next $60,000. Only the few families who spend more than $80,000 a year would be subject to the supplemental tax. Necessities would be taxed less than ordinary and luxury items. No one would be taxed directly on savings. The estate and gift or so-called death tax would be abolished, for the simple reason that dead people don't spend. The "fair not flat" tax would fall on heirs when and as they spend their good fortune. Perhaps best of all, most Americans would not have to fill out tax returns. Simpler, more efficient, fairer, and more reflective of America's current social values, McCaffery's "fair not flat" tax could help get us out of the tax mess that politicians and special interests have gotten us into, improving the whole country in the process. Read Fair Not Flat to find out how. “In Fair Not Flat, Mr. McCaffery lays out the case for a consumption tax. He does so in a reader-friendly way, presenting his argument with very few footnotes, equations or technical terms. The consumption of the book, so to speak, is not at all taxing. And its argument is well worth pondering.”—Bruce Bartlett, Wall Street Journal