By exploiting the structural tax rate changes created by the Bush-era tax acts in 2001 and 2003, this study offers a first direct investigation of how the differential taxation of financial assets affects households’ asset location and allocation into taxable and tax-deferred accounts in a natural experimental framework. Because bonds are heavily taxed assets, relative to stocks, and tax treatm...

a r t i c l e i n f o This paper examines the built-in flexibility properties — as measured by the elasticity of revenue with respect to profits — of the UK corporation tax system. Emphasis is placed on determining some of the major influences on the extent to which total corporation tax revenue changes when profits change over the economic cycle. A microsimulation model, CorpSim, is constructe...

Taiwan, Republic of China (ROC), introduced a new income tax system, combining corporate and personal income taxes, on 1 January 1976. This new tax system, resembling those used in many European countries, has had a significant impact on the debt/equity capital structure of companies domiciled in Taiwan. This study provides historical background concerning taxing policies, an analysis of the ne...

Differential tax analysis is used to show how the optimal mix of inflation tax and direct taxation changes with the relative size of the hidden economy. The larger the relative size of the hidden economy, the smaller the optimal ratio of direct tax to inflation tax. Anecdotal empirical evidence supports this result. JEL Classification: E62, H21, H26, O17.

We construct a new database of extensive margin changes to multiple aspects of corporate tax bases for OECD countries between 1980 and 2004. We use our data to systematically document the tendency of countries to implement policies that both lower the corporate tax rate and broaden the corporate tax base. This correlation informs our interpretation of previous estimates of the relationship betw...

Proponents argue that tax amnesties raise revenue both in the short and long run, by bringing former nonfilers back into the tax system. Opponents contend that amnesties produce little short-run revenue and weaken incentives for longrun tax compliance. However, over the last 21 years, 27 states offered tax amnesties for a second or third time. While previous research has estimated the impact of...

Gasoline taxes can correct externalities associated with automobile use, reduce dependency on foreign oil, and raise government revenue. Our understanding of the optimal gasoline tax and the efficacy of existing taxes is largely based on empirical analysis of consumer responses to gasoline price changes. In this paper, we directly examine how gasoline taxes affect consumer behavior as distinct ...