Excise taxes on alcohol and tobacco have long been a dependable and significant revenue source in many countries. More recently, considerable attention has been paid to the way in which such taxes may...
In Western democracies, systems of checks and balances built into government structures have formed the core of good governance, and have helped empower citizens for more than two hundred years. Many developing...
Strengthening sub-national governments is high on the policy agenda of many developing countries. From an economics perspective, the most important potential benefit from decentralization is the increased...
The 'smartest' development policy needs to be underpinned by 'smart' tax policy. However, the best tax policy in the world is worth little if it cannot be implemented effectively. What can be done, to...
This paper reviews the literature on tax assignment in decentralized countries. Ideally, own-source revenues should be sufficient to enable at least the richest subnational governments to finance from...
For more than half a century, scholars and international agencies have been making recommendations about taxation in developing countries. The advice economists have offered to developing countries has...
Economists are sometimes accused of agreeing on almost nothing. An important policy question on which many economists appear to agree, however, is that there is not much to be said in favor of taxing business...
A recent paper argues persuasively that the two basic pillars of taxation in most countries are the income tax and the VAT (Barreix and Roca 2007). The authors argue that the VAT is excellent as a revenue...
Domestic consumption in most countries is taxed through general sales taxes, excise taxes on specific commodities, and a variety of miscellaneous taxes on such services as hotels and transfers of property...
A recent paper argues persuasively that the two basic pillars of taxation in most countries are the income tax and the value added tax (VAT) (Barreix and Roca 2007). The authors argue that the VAT is excellent...
Numerous distortions and costs are created as a result of corporate taxes. Choices with respect to organizational form (the incorporation decision), financial structure (debt-equity ratio), and dividend...
Domestic consumption in most countries is taxed through general sales taxes, excise taxes on specific commodities, and a variety of miscellaneous taxes on such services as hotel and transfers of property...
Common sense suggests that there should be a strong and logical connection between the two sides of the budget. If an average citizen in any country is asked what he or she thinks about the desirability...
In Western democracies, systems of checks and balances built into government structures have formed the core of good governance, and have helped empower citizens for more than two hundred years. Many developing...
In Western democracies, systems of checks and balances built into government structures have formed the core of good governance, and have helped empower citizens for more than two hundred years. Many developing...
This report identifies feasible near and medium-term measures that could be introduced to improve fiscal transparency. It will be difficult to achieve all of the requirements of the minimum standard of...
This paper draws on the growing experience with decentralization in developing countries, to explore how a wide range of variables can affect decentralization efforts, and, how policies, and incentives...
A successful poverty alleviation strategy has four distinct elements: 1) identifying who the poor are, where they are located, and what they do; 2) analyzing why they are poor; 3) developing policies to...
Post-communist parties and the politics of entitlements (Jeffrey Sachs). Privatizing profits of Bulgaria's state enterprises (Zeljko Bogetic and Arye L. Hillman). Oxford Analytica reports on red conglomerates...
The author examines the many faces of infrastructure decentralization: the costs and benefits, the government structure (constraint or variable?), the "polycentric" approach, and how to make decentralization...