Tax Reform and the Cost of Capital

Dale W. Jorgenson; Ralph Landau

doi:10.5771/9780815720003

Summary

The tax reform movement that swept the U.S., Great Britain, and most other industrialized nations during the last decade has focused attention on international comparisons of the cost of capital. More recently, international comparability has become a critical issue of tax harmonization. This is a vital concern in the European Community, as well as between Canada and the United States.

This volume provides international comparisons of the cost of different types of capital for nine major industrialized countriesAustralia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United Statesfor the period 1980-1990. In the early 1980s the introduction of tax incentives for saving and investment gradually shifted the tax base from income toward consumption. By 1990 most of these special tax provisions had been reduced or repealed in order to lower tax rates and equalize the tax treatment of different forms of capital income. Income was firmly reestablished as the most appropriate basis for taxation.

Separate chapters for each of the nine countries, written by leading experts in public economics, provide detailed accounts of tax policy changes over the decade. Each chapter contains a quantitative description of these tax policies and summarizes this information in the form of effective tax rates. The book thus serves as an indispensable reference for comparing capital income taxation in industrialized countries during a period of rapid policy change.

Search publication

Bibliographic data

Copyright year: 2010
ISBN-Print: 978-0-8157-4715-4
ISBN-Online: 978-0-8157-2000-3
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham
Language: English
Pages: 420
Product type: Edited Book

1. Contents No access
2. Preface No access
3. Contributors No access
1. International Comparisons No access
2. Alternative Approaches No access
3. Summary and Conclusion No access
4. Appendix: King-Fullerton Framework No access
5. References No access
1. Features of the Australian Tax System No access
2. Current Taxation of Corporate Source Income No access
3. Taxation of Corporate Source Income, 1985 No access
4. Taxation of Corporate Source Income, 1980 No access
5. An Overview of Effective Tax Rates, 1960–90 No access
6. Unincorporated Investment and Housing No access
7. Inflation and Taxation—the Income-Tax Issue of the 1990s No access
8. Conclusion No access
9. Appendix: Nonstandard Assumptions No access
10. References No access
1. Theoretical Framework No access
2. An Overview of the Canadian Tax System No access
3. Estimates of Marginal Effective Tax Rates No access
4. Conclusion No access
5. References No access
1. The Composition of Tax Revenues No access
2. Corporate Business Taxation No access
3. Personal Taxes No access
4. Structure of the Capital Stock and Its Ownership No access
5. Estimates of Marginal Effective Tax Rates No access
6. Conclusion No access
7. References No access
1. Capital Taxes No access
2. The Integrated Capital Taxation Model No access
3. User Cost of Capital No access
4. Investment Promotion in East Germany No access
5. References No access
1. The Composition of Tax Revenues No access
2. Corporate Business Taxation No access
3. Personal Taxation No access
4. The Structure of the Capital Stock and Its Ownership No access
5. Estimates of Marginal Effective Tax Rates No access
6. Conclusion No access
7. References No access
1. The Effective Marginal Tax Rate on Capital Income No access
2. Simulations of Tax Reform No access
3. Conclusion No access
4. References No access
1. Major Changes in Tax Legislation between 1980 and 1985 No access
2. Empirical Results for 1985 No access
3. The Investment Funds System No access
4. A New Tax System No access
5. Noncorporate Investment No access
6. Problems of Measurement and Interpretation No access
7. A Summing Up No access
8. References No access
1. The Tax System No access
2. King-Fullerton Tax Rates for 1980–81, 1985–86, and 1990–91 No access
3. Issues for the Future No access
4. References No access
1. Methodological Framework No access
2. Data and Parameters No access
3. The Results No access
4. Conclusion No access
5. References No access
Appendix No access Pages 369 - 406
1. A No access
2. B No access
3. C No access
4. D No access
5. E No access
6. F No access
7. G No access
8. H No access
9. I No access
10. J No access
11. K No access
12. L No access
13. M No access
14. O No access
15. P No access
16. R No access
17. S No access
18. T No access
19. U No access
20. V No access
21. W No access
22. Y No access