Any attempt to restore responsible environmental policies, revive and expand our social programs, rebuild our crumbling infrastructure, and boost our flagging economy will be inadequate unless we also address the need to increase governments? fiscal capacity. The tax system can also play a key role in closing the gap between rich and poor?a gap that is undermining the health of our economy and threatening damage to our democracy.
Until recently, many progressive groups, including progressive political parties, have shied away from advocating for tax fairness and tax reform, fearing that the issue is political dynamite. Right wingers have encountered little opposition to their calls for deep tax cuts, especially for the rich and for corporations.
But the tide is turning. Public opinion polls tell us that faced with growing inequality and cutbacks to government programs, Canadians now strongly support tax fairness, including higher taxes on the rich and on corporations. The Great Revenue Robbery is a collective effort to stimulate much-needed discussion about how tax policy can help rebuild our social programs, reduce the gap between rich and poor, restore environmental responsibility, and revitalize our country's democracy.

A number of tax provisions have either expired in 2011 or are scheduled to expire at the end of this FY 2012. These include the Bush tax cuts, the alternative minimum tax (AMT) patch, the temporary payroll tax cut, and other temporary expiring provisions, many of which are commonly referred to as "tax extenders." Aside from the payroll tax cut, which was extended by the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012, the most recent law extending many of these provisions was the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization and Job Creation Act of 2010. This book provides an overview of these expiring provisions with a focus on past cost and cost of extension and a brief discussion of the current debate concerning the policy.

This book examines current proposals in the 112th Congress relating to tax reform. The President and leading members of Congress have stated that fundamental tax reform is a major policy objective. These policymakers have said that fundamental tax reform is needed in order to raise a large amount of additional revenue, which is necessary to reduce high forecast budget deficits and the sharply rising national debt. Congressional interest has been expressed in both a major overhaul of the U.S. tax system and the feasibility of levying a consumption tax. Some proponents of reform argue that the tax base should be broadened by reducing or eliminating many tax expenditures. An alternative to increasing tax revenues is cutting spending. Thus, Members are faced with considering the best mix of tax increases and spending cuts in order to reduce deficits and slow the growth of the national debt.

Fully updated each year, this, the leading textbook in the field, continues to provide coverage of the UK's tax system as it has for the last 19 years. Written in an accessible style with many examples, activities and questions throughout, this textbook gives the reader a thorough understanding of the UK's taxation principles and current practices.

This book explores the tax cut stimulus options available in today's economic climate. Several tax cuts were discussed during considerations of fiscal stimulus in recent years, and the current proposal of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. This stimulus proposal includes individual tax cuts directed at lower and middle income individuals and also includes business tax cuts. Effectiveness of a tax cut for short run stimulus purposes is judged by the extent to which the tax cut increases private demand. A tax cut that is saved will have no short term stimulative economic effect. Thus, in general, tax cuts received by individuals will not be successful as short run stimulus if they lead to additional saving, and tax cuts received by firms will not be successful unless they lead to spending on investment.

This book explores the debate over whether the top two marginal tax rates should be permitted to rise back to their 2001 levels - from the current 33 per cent back to 36 per cent, and from the current 35 per cent back to 39.6 per cent. The analysis takes into account the relationship between the top tax rates on ordinary income, the tax rate on capital gains and dividends and the alternative minimum tax. Arguments for raising the tax rates on high-income taxpayers start with the need to raise additional revenue and to signal the beginning of an effort by the United States to reduce its deficit. This policy is viewed as collecting revenue from taxpayers with the most income, who received the biggest Bush tax cuts, and who are least likely to reduce their consumption spending or work effort in response to an increase in their marginal tax rate.

Since the global financial crisis of 2008-2009, public debt in advanced economies has increased substantially. A number of factors related to the financial crisis have fuelled the increase, including fiscal stimulus packages, the nationalisation of private-sector debt, and lower tax revenue. Even if economic growth reverses some of these trends, such as by boosting tax receipts and reducing spending on government programs, ageing populations in advanced economies are expected to strain government debt levels in coming years. This book explores the topics of sovereign debt in advances economies around the world; limiting central government budget deficits; the sustainability of the federal budget deficit; foreign holdings of federal debt and Argentina's defaulted sovereign debt crisis.

This book examines corporate and international taxation laws with a focus on reform of U.S. international taxation; tax cuts on repatriation earnings as an economic stimulus; corporate tax reform issues for Congress; firms that incorporate abroad for tax purposes (inversions and expatriation); tax havens and tax avoidance and international competitiveness and the tax policy debate.

The taxation of extractive industries exploiting oil, gas, or minerals is usually treated as a sovereign, national policy and administration issue. This book offers a uniquely comprehensive overview of the theory and practice involved in designing policies on the international aspects of fiscal regimes for these industries, with a particular focus on developing and emerging economies. International Taxation and the Extractive Industries addresses key topics that are not frequently covered in the literature, such as the geo-political implications of cross-border pipelines and the legal implications of mining contracts and regional financial obligations. The contributors, all of whom are leading researchers with experience of working with governments and companies on these issues, present an authoritative collection of chapters. The volume reviews international tax rules, covering both developments in the G20-OECD project on 'Base Erosion and Profit Shifting' and more radical proposals, identifying core challenges in the extractives sector. This book should become a core resource for both scholars and practitioners. It will also appeal to those interested in international tax issues more widely and those who study environmental economics, macroeconomics and development economics.

Die Steuersysteme im 19. Jahrhundert entstanden im Gefolge der neuen liberalen Grundlagenphilosophie von 1789 und den damit verbundenen neuen Staatsordnungen. Sie l-sten die alten feudalen Abgaben und Dienste ab. Von Frankreich ausgehend, entwickelte sich in den meisten mittel- und s}deurop{ischen Staaten der Typ der direkten objektiven Ertragsteuern. Sie sollten die Individuen vor staatlicher Steuerwillk}r besonders gut sch}tzen. Wegen ihrer Schwerf{lligkeit gegen}ber nderungen konnten diese Steuern jedochdie wirtschaftlichen und gesellschaftlichen Folgen der Industrialisierung nur ungen}gend aufnehmen. Die Ertragsteuern wurden abgel-st durch den revolution{r neuen Typ der englischen subjektiven Einkommensteuer, die bereits 1799 als au erordentliche Kriegssteuer entwickelt worden war. Die preu ische Einkommensteuer von 1891 blieb f}r Deutschland bis heute richtungweisend. Die bewegliche Einkommensteuer pa te sich den Wechseln der Industrialisierung ebenso elastisch an wie den sich {ndernden Staatszwecken: vom liberalen Nachtw{chterstaat, den es im w-rtlichen Sinne kaum gegeben hat, hin zum Rechts-, Lenkungs- und Sozialstaat. Die Steuer wurde zu einem bevorzugten Instrument der Innenpolitik. Die Staatshaushalte zeigen diese nderungen und die milit{rischen Auseinandersetzungen der europ{ischen Staaten mit gro er Deutlichkeit bei ihren Einnahmen und Ausgaben.

Critical Issues in Environmental Taxation is an internationally refereed publication devoted to environmental taxation issues on a worldwide basis. It seeks to provide insights and analysis for achieving environmental goals through tax policy. By sharing the perspectives of the authors in response to the diverse challenges posed by environmental taxation issues, effective approaches used in one country may be considered and possibly implemented by governmental authorities in other countries. Each volume contains pioneering and thought-provoking articles contributed by the world's leading environmental tax scholars.
This eight volume collection includes 42 articles on environmental tax issues which were presented at the Tenth Global Conference on Environmental Taxation. It features articles in six areas relating to environmental tax reforms: experiences and potential, market-based instruments for climate protection, market-based instruments for environmentally sound management of energy, market-based instruments for environmentally sound management of water, market-based instruments for environmentally sound management of urban areas, and evaluation of market-based environmental policies. The quality of the articles published in Volume VIII reflects the excellent and inspiring work of leading scholars and practitioners in the field of environmental taxation.

This book analyzes the issue of European fiscal State aid in order to provide insights into the related evolution prospects and legal problems. State aid has assumed a central position in the field of taxation, becoming the most important instrument of European legal integration, especially in the area of direct taxes. This is the result of major regulatory and interpretative development, which has altered the initial European and national balances in the face of globalization and the problems of the new economy. In this context, the scope and objectives of State aid have progressively broadened, encompassing a significant level of both positive and negative integration of European national tax systems.

Critical Issues in Environmental Taxation is an internationally refereed publication devoted to environmental taxation issues on a worldwide basis. It seeks to provide insights and analysis for achieving environmental goals through tax policy. By sharing the perspectives of the authors in response to the diverse challenges posed by environmental taxation issues, effective approaches used in one country may be considered and possibly implemented by governmental authorities in other countries. Each volume contains pioneering and thought-provoking articles contributed by the world's leading environmental tax scholars.
This seventh volume focuses on the special problems of the urban environment and the challenges which confront cities and mega-cities. It examines tax issues relating to congestion and pollution control, road pricing and other forms of transportation management, housing and the construction industry, energy generation and consumption, trade, carbon taxes and new eco-service markets, research and development taxes. It contains case studies from developed as well as developing countries. Contributors come from various disciplines, particularly law, accounting and economics. The countries examined include Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Kenya, Pakistan, Singapore, Spain, Uganda, and the United States.

Fully updated each year,Taxation: Policy and Practice continues to provide coverage of the UK's tax system as it has for 16 years. It is an excellent aid to support a first course in tax, or as a general introduction to this topic. Written in an accessible style with many examples, activities and questions throughout, this textbook gives the reader a thorough understanding of the UK's taxation principles and current practices. The companion website provides additional questions and answers, links to other tax materials available online and commentary on tax developments as they occur throughout the year. "An excellent balance of practice and theory, without non essential detail, make this the first choice student text for UK tax" - Professor John Hasseldine, University of Nottingham

The 19 articles in this volume include George Zodrow's most important contributions to the theory and practice of taxation. They are organized into five general areas: (1) Optimal tax reform, or an analysis of the best ways to implement tax reforms taking into account transitional problems; (2) Consumption-based taxes, including the economic effects of replacing the current income tax with a progressive consumption tax; (3) Income tax reform in the United States and in developing countries; (4) State and local tax policy, including especially the effects of the local property tax; and (5) Tax competition, using models that are applicable at both the state/local and international levels.In the words of Peter Mieszkowski, Professor Emeritus of Rice University and one of the world's foremost public finance scholars, 'This volume of important papers is a capstone to George Zodrow's distinguished research career. What they reveal is a thinker who works repeatedly on the analysis of practical and concrete applications. The motivating force behind these articles is the conviction that for government to tax appropriately, systems of taxation must be profoundly understood. This volume is a giant step in that direction.'

There are wide racial disparities in virtually every sphere of economic life. African American workers earn less than whites. They are more likely to be denied loans than whites. Minority-owned businesses are less likely to win lucrative bids on state and federal contracts than are white male owned businesses. Black children are more likely than whites to be reported to child protective services for neglect or abuse. There are even huge disparities in downing rates between blacks and whites. What to do about these disparities? There is a fundamental disagreement about the appropriate remedies to these varied indicators of racial inequality. Part of the disagreement stems from differences in public perceptions about the underlying causes of the inequality. But, another form of disagreement relates to the opposition to the remedy of choice during much of the 1970s and 1980s: Affirmative Action. Race conscious remedies -- like affirmative action policies in hiring, college admissions, and business contracting -- suffer from legal and constitutional challenges, compounded by hostility from the majority of Americans. The alternative – race-neutral remedies – attempt to address racial disparities without directly targeting benefits exclusively to racial minority group members. In doing so, race-neutral remedies putatively help minorities without hurting majority group members. The authors of Race Neutrality: Rationalizing Remedies to Racial Inequality make the case that policy analysts should shift from a focus on whether a remedy is race-conscious or not to a focus on the underlying problem that the alternative remedies is attempting to resolve. This type of rethinking of the problem of racial inequality will reveal that sometimes race-neutral remedies hold great promise in reducing disparities. Often, however, race-neutral remedies fail to do what they are intended to do. The authors challenge the reader to think about why race-neutral remedies—while desireable on their face—might fail to resolve protracted and persistent patterns of racial inequality in market and non-market contexts.

This textbook examines the economic problems of military organizations from an institutional perspective. It discusses the efficiency and effectiveness of military performance, using a capability-based conceptualization. Constitutional, historical and economic considerations complement the analysis. Neither the analysis nor the conclusions depend on any specific armed force, culture, organization, or language. On the contrary, the challenge of defense economics analysis and armed forces management is reduced to a fundamental economic problem, and solutions to this problem are offered. This book is a must-read for students, scholars and practitioners interested in a better understanding of defense economics.

This book answers the question: is Polish property tax legislation ready for the upcoming energy transformation? In Poland, real estate tax (property tax) is a material cost for property owners in energy because of the high value assets used by the sector. At the same time, unclear provisions of Polish tax law and variable jurisprudence can make it challenging for entrepreneurs to predict their tax bills. The current provisions of Polish tax law are often not well adjusted to the reality of modern economy, particularly in the case of assets used in the renewable energy sector. The book describes the problems that face taxpayers, tax authorities, and the administrative courts trying to apply current real estate tax provisions to renewable energy assets. The authors also examine the question of whether Polish legislators treat traditional and renewable sources of energy fairly. The readers of this book will be practitioners and researchers who are interested in issues of renewable energy taxation.

This book is a comprehensive, scholarly account of Hong Kong Public Budgeting, spanning from the pre-1997 British rule to the post-1997 Chinese rule. Transcending the existing comparative budgeting studies which are either central-government focused or symmetric local-government focused, this book presents Hong Kong Public Budgeting as a distinctive case of territorial autonomy. It offers historical and comparative analyses of Hong Kong Public Budgeting, tracing the evolution of budgetary institutions and budgetary decision-making and examining the critical issues of budget openness, budget oversight, and budget allocation. This book will be of key interest to scholars and students of comparative budgeting studies. It will also be an excellent text for public budgeting instructors and students in East Asia and Hong Kong.

For many decades consumer protection laws have focused on preventing "bad" choices. Though that approach has some value, this book explains we are much more often harmed, even killed, by the needless delay of new inventions that could save lives or vastly improve life quality. Thomas Tacker explains how we can revamp regulation to embrace inventions that save and improve lives while still holding companies accountable for actions that harm consumers. Case studies include price gouging, the FDA approval process, airport passenger screening, and occupational licensing, particularly as it relates to Uber. This book demonstrates that enacting appropriate liability laws and providing information to guide consumers, rather than strictly controlling their choices, will save thousands of lives annually, increase consumer freedom, and make life more enjoyable.

Passcards provides all the knowledge required for the Indirect Tax unit. Passcards are A6, spiral bound revision aids which students can carry to revise wherever, whenever. Features include:topics presented in the same order as the Course Book, ability to focus on tricky syllabus areas, aid revision by giving clear, visual emphasis to key points, suitable for both paper and computer based exams. Our materials and online equivalents will help ensure you are ready for your assessments and prepared for your career in accounting.

Decode IRS appraisal regulations and find practical solutions to current issues Qualified Appraisers and Qualified Appraisals provides clarification on complex IRS guidelines, and offers solutions and insight that can help appraisers adhere to the latest Treasury Regulations concerning appraisals submitted in tax matters. From the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice to IRS regulations, this book explores the body of law that has arisen around the production of "qualified appraisals" that the government and courts will accept. The discussion covers estate, gift, charitable contribution, income taxes, and more, with expert guidance on the interpretation and application of complex regulations. As appraisers often are called upon to provide expert testimony in court, this book shares effective methods including the novel "hot-tubbing" technique that eliminates the appearance of bias in favor of a less-adversarial discussion. Cases are dissected as they relate to application of existing appraisal laws, and the companion website features checklists, references, and additional cases as they become available. The IRS regulations on qualified appraisers and qualified appraisals have sparked a storm of controversy, and have raised more questions than they have answered. This book acknowledges the problems and offers solutions to help appraisers produce work the IRS and courts will accept. Understand the laws surrounding "qualified appraisals" and "qualified appraisers" Gain insight on testifying as an expert, including new techniques Explore solutions to common issues the IRS raises with respect to qualified appraisals and qualified appraisers Examine cases that illustrate the nuances of appraisal law application In order for an appraisal to satisfy the government, an appraisal must be performed by a "qualified appraiser" specific for the type of property in question. This broad statement leaves much to question, but Qualified Appraisers and Qualified Appraisals provides the answers appraisers need to comply with the law and produce work that meets the latest standards.

Everyone deserves to be able to retire with dignity, but this core feature of the social contract is in jeopardy. Companies have swerved away from pensions, and most of the workforce has woefully inadequate retirement savings. If we don't act to fix this broken system, rates of impoverishment for senior citizens threaten to skyrocket, and tens of millions of Americans reaching retirement age in the coming decades will be forced to delay retirement and will experience a dramatic drop in their standard of living. In Rescuing Retirement, Teresa Ghilarducci and Tony James offer a comprehensive yet simple plan to help workers save for retirement, increase retirement savings by earning higher returns, and guarantee lifelong income for everyone. Built on people's own money in individual Guaranteed Retirement Accounts, the plan requires no new taxes, no more bureaucracy, and no increase in the deficit. Speaking to Americans' growing anxiety about their ability to retire, Rescuing Retirement provides answers to anyone wanting to understand the growing movement to protect a period of life once considered a deserved time of rest and creativity and offers a practical guide to the future of secure retirement.

Volume 4 in the Critical Issues in Environmental Taxation series provides a peer-reviewed selection of papers on environmental taxation written by experts from around the world. Selected from papers delivered at the Annual Global Conference on Environmental Taxation, they cover the theory of environmental taxation, countries' experiences of specific environmental taxes, proposed environmental taxes, and evaluations of the role of taxation compared with other environmental instruments. The book provides an interdisciplinary approach to environmental taxation, drawing on the fields of economics, law, political science, and accounting. Each volume in the series reflects the theme of the conference from which the papers are drawn, as well as other broader themes. Volume 4 will focus on the role of taxation in promoting renewable energy, but also includes a number of papers on other topics related to environmental taxation. Written predominantly by academics, the papers provide in-depth analysis that will provide a valuable resource to people interested in environmental taxation.