Fiscal Studies最新文献

{"title":"Why were most wealth taxes abandoned and is this time different?","authors":"Sarah Perret","doi":"10.1111/1475-5890.12278","DOIUrl":"10.1111/1475-5890.12278","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Wealth taxes are increasingly being considered as an option in policy and academic circles to collect additional revenue and address inequality. One objection that is often raised, however, is that they seem to have failed in countries that tried them, with most OECD countries abandoning their wealth taxes in recent decades. This paper gives an overview of OECD countries’ experiences with wealth taxes and explores the different factors that have led to their repeal in most countries. The paper also discusses whether the situation might be different today and what the implications for tax policy might be.</p>","PeriodicalId":51602,"journal":{"name":"Fiscal Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":7.3,"publicationDate":"2021-10-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1475-5890.12278","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42520612","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The economic arguments for and against a wealth tax","authors":"Stuart Adam,&nbsp;Helen Miller","doi":"10.1111/1475-5890.12288","DOIUrl":"10.1111/1475-5890.12288","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This paper asks when a wealth tax would, in principle, be a desirable part of the tax system, setting aside the practicalities and politics that would be crucial in reality. The case for a one-off wealth tax is simple. If it were unexpected and credibly one-off – a major challenge in practice – this would be an efficient way to raise revenue and could be used to address existing wealth inequality. Whether such a tax is desirable hinges on whether it is considered fair, about which reasonable people will differ. Making the case for an annual wealth tax, which would affect future wealth accumulation as well as existing wealth, is less straightforward. It requires explaining why it is better to tax the same wealth every year – penalising those who save – rather than raising the same revenue by taxing all sources of wealth once when they are received (and/or when they are spent). Such a case can be made based on subtle arguments for why taxing wealth might help to ease the trade-off between redistribution and work incentives; and a wealth tax might also be justified if holding on to wealth, rather than spending it, benefits the holder or harms others. These theoretical arguments probably justify some taxation of wealth in principle, though we have little basis for judging the appropriate level, so only part of the theoretical benefit could be attained. It is questionable whether the achievable benefits outweigh the costs of an imperfect wealth tax in practice.</p><p>There are strong reasons to radically reform how we currently tax the sources/uses of wealth; this includes reforming capital income taxes in order to properly tax high returns. An annual wealth tax would be a poor substitute for doing that. But to the extent that taxes remain imperfect and that responses to a wealth tax would not affect revenue from other taxes (such as on income, expenditure and bequests), there may be a benefit to adding a wealth tax in order to diversify sources of revenue and prevent any one tax getting too high – though that must be weighed against the extra administrative burdens of having another tax.</p>","PeriodicalId":51602,"journal":{"name":"Fiscal Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":7.3,"publicationDate":"2021-10-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1475-5890.12288","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42031705","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The costs of administering a wealth tax","authors":"David Burgherr","doi":"10.1111/1475-5890.12276","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-5890.12276","url":null,"abstract":"<p>I assess the costs of administering a wealth tax for taxpayers and the tax authority in the UK context, based on evidence from existing UK taxes on wealth and comprehensive wealth taxes that have been imposed in other countries. My central estimate is that a well-designed wealth tax generates costs to taxpayers of 0.1 per cent of taxable wealth and costs to the tax authority of 0.05 per cent of taxable wealth. I discuss how these costs depend on design choices. My findings can inform revenue modelling and help to evaluate the desirability of wealth taxes.</p>","PeriodicalId":51602,"journal":{"name":"Fiscal Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":7.3,"publicationDate":"2021-10-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1475-5890.12276","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"109174329","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Special Issue on a Wealth Tax: Time for Another Look?","authors":"Arun Advani,&nbsp;Helen Miller,&nbsp;Andy Summers","doi":"10.1111/1475-5890.12292","DOIUrl":"10.1111/1475-5890.12292","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":51602,"journal":{"name":"Fiscal Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":7.3,"publicationDate":"2021-10-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1475-5890.12292","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47147117","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Liquidity issues: solutions for the asset rich, cash poor","authors":"Glen Loutzenhiser,&nbsp;Elizabeth Mann","doi":"10.1111/1475-5890.12281","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-5890.12281","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Liquidity concerns are oft raised when considering wealth taxes, yet the issue has received scant attention in the extant literature. In this paper we provide the first comprehensive review of the liquidity problem. Our aims are to estimate the scale of the problem, to explore the extent to which archetypal examples are at risk of experiencing low liquidity, and to review the policy options to reduce the scale and impact of liquidity challenges. Using data from Round 6 of the Wealth and Assets Survey, we demonstrate that the scale of the problem depends largely on conceptual and design issues. We find that farmers and business owners are commonly over-represented in the low-liquidity group, but there is little evidence to support the typical narrative surrounding single pensioners. Finally, we conclude our review with a number of preferred solutions to address liquidity issues, including recognising that a net wealth tax can be paid out of income or by sale of assets, by withholding tax (e.g. by pension providers), by borrowing/financing, deferred payment arrangements and, possibly in limited circumstances, payment in specie.</p>","PeriodicalId":51602,"journal":{"name":"Fiscal Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":7.3,"publicationDate":"2021-10-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1475-5890.12281","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"109174327","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The UK's wealth distribution and characteristics of high-wealth households","authors":"Arun Advani,&nbsp;George Bangham,&nbsp;Jack Leslie","doi":"10.1111/1475-5890.12286","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-5890.12286","url":null,"abstract":"<p>We show that wealth inequality in the UK is high and has increased slightly over the past decade as financial asset prices have increased in the wake of the financial crisis. But data deficiencies are a major barrier in understanding the true distribution, composition and size of household wealth. The most comprehensive survey of household wealth in the UK does a good job of capturing the vast majority of the wealth distribution, but nearly £800 billion of wealth held by the very wealthiest UK households is missing. We also find tentative evidence that survey measures of high-wealth families undervalue their assets – our central estimate of the true value of wealth held by households in the UK is 5 per cent higher than the survey data suggest.</p>","PeriodicalId":51602,"journal":{"name":"Fiscal Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":7.3,"publicationDate":"2021-10-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1475-5890.12286","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"109174330","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Valuation for the purposes of a wealth tax","authors":"Stephen Daly,&nbsp;Helen Hughson,&nbsp;Glen Loutzenhiser","doi":"10.1111/1475-5890.12287","DOIUrl":"10.1111/1475-5890.12287","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This paper considers the scale and prevalence of valuation issues under a wealth tax. Valuation issues are frequently cited in the literature as the most difficult aspect of wealth taxes. We examine some of the most problematic asset types from a valuation perspective. We also consider a range of solutions to manage these concerns, drawing on international experience and the approaches already taken for other taxes within the UK system. We conclude that satisfactory options for arriving at a value for wealth tax purposes are available even for the most problematic assets. We also estimate that the absolute number of taxpayers likely to pay substantial valuation fees is small, and that, in aggregate, valuation costs could be contained to around 0.1 per cent or less of total chargeable assets, even if they are substantial for some individual taxpayers.</p>","PeriodicalId":51602,"journal":{"name":"Fiscal Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":7.3,"publicationDate":"2021-10-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1475-5890.12287","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47889909","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Who should pay a wealth tax? Some design issues","authors":"Emma Chamberlain","doi":"10.1111/1475-5890.12284","DOIUrl":"10.1111/1475-5890.12284","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Any wealth tax design needs to resolve the question of who should pay it it How wide should the net be cast? Setting high or low exempt thresholds affects avoidance behaviour and may influence whether one should tax by reference to the household (and if so how that should be defined) or simply on each individual who owns wealth over a certain threshold. Typically, wealth taxes in other countries have not been imposed on non-residents except in relation to real property but questions remain over whether any exempt period should be given to new arrivals, not least for administrative convenience. A one-off wealth tax would require a different design in a number of respects from an annual wealth tax. For example, a one off tax t would need to be designed to catch those who have recently left the UK and contain modifications for recent arrivals. Trusts, foundations and similar vehicles pose particular problems in the design of a wealth tax and the author suggests some possible solutions and connecting factors that could be considered.</p>","PeriodicalId":51602,"journal":{"name":"Fiscal Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":7.3,"publicationDate":"2021-10-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1475-5890.12284","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42492066","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Taxes on wealth: time for another look?","authors":"Arun Advani,&nbsp;Helen Miller,&nbsp;Andy Summers","doi":"10.1111/1475-5890.12289","DOIUrl":"10.1111/1475-5890.12289","url":null,"abstract":"Around the world, proposals for new taxes on the stock of wealth (a ‘wealth tax’) were gaining traction even before the fiscal tumult that has followed the COVID-19 pandemic. Piketty's ‘utopian ideal’ of a global wealth tax is perhaps the most prominent example.1 In the US, a new wealth tax proposed by Saez and Zucman (2019) was taken up by prominent candidates for the 2019 Democratic primaries. The OECD recently conducted a wide-ranging review of the wealth taxes already in operation within its member countries,2 and new empirical research has also examined the impacts of existing wealth taxes in a developing country context. The COVID-19 crisis has accelerated this interest in wealth taxes. First off the mark was Argentina, which in December 2020 passed a new one-off levy on its wealthiest citizens (with assets over $2.5 million) to pay for medical supplies and relief measures.4 In April 2021, in response to concerns about a $5 trillion surge in the wealth of the world's richest individuals during the pandemic, the UN Secretary-General urged governments to consider introducing a new ‘solidarity or wealth tax’.5 The International Monetary Fund has also recommended that countries consider taxes on high wealth, emphasising the ‘symbolic impact of this type of contribution’ in the context of recovery from the COVID-19 crisis.","PeriodicalId":51602,"journal":{"name":"Fiscal Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":7.3,"publicationDate":"2021-10-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1475-5890.12289","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49428982","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"One-off wealth taxes: theory and evidence","authors":"Nick O'Donovan","doi":"10.1111/1475-5890.12277","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-5890.12277","url":null,"abstract":"<p>In periods where the national public debt has grown rapidly beyond ‘normal’ levels, the idea of drawing on the stock of national private wealth in order to pay down that debt, whether in whole or in part, has gained currency. ‘Capital levies’ or ‘one-off wealth taxes’ involve a one-time charge based upon wealth, normally assessed across a broad range of asset classes (such as savings, investments, property and pensions). The goal of this paper is to outline, and to expand upon, the evidence base available to policymakers contemplating one-off wealth taxes. It outlines key features of one-off wealth taxes, relative to somewhat more commonplace recurring wealth taxes. Using a comparative case study methodology, the paper analyses historical examples of one-off wealth taxation, which have attracted relatively little scholarly attention to date. It explores practical details of tax design and tax administration, as well as aspects of the political and economic context in which these measures were introduced. In so doing, it identifies factors that make one-off wealth taxes more or less likely to succeed in raising revenue while also minimising any negative social and economic consequences.</p>","PeriodicalId":51602,"journal":{"name":"Fiscal Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":7.3,"publicationDate":"2021-10-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1475-5890.12277","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"109174324","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}