Bernd Genser

Indirect Taxation in an Integrated Europe. Is there a Way of Avoiding Trade Distortions Without Sacrificing National Tax Autonomy

The paper discusses the main arguments for destination- versus origin-based commodity taxation in the European Communitys Internal Market. Destination-based solutions necessarily distort commodity trade in the Community because final con-sumer purchases can only be taxed in the origin country. On the other hand, an origin-based general consumption tax is not only neutral in a European context but it can also be combined with destination-based taxation in third countries in a non-distortive way. Furthermore, it is shown that the introduction of capital mobility does not affect the neutrality of an origin-based consumption tax. Finally, the paper addresses the administrative and political implications of a switch to the origin principle in the European Community.

Coordinating VATs Between EU Member States

The paper surveys coordination requirements for a final European VAT (short for viable integrated VAT) system. Using a set of criteria that can be identified from the EU VAT program for the single market, we analyze the potential superiority of the Commissions 1996 VAT proposal and four alternative VAT systems over the current transitional regime. We argue that the recent withdrawal of the 1996 VAT proposal is economically beneficial, as this VAT reform would have generated substantial costs for EU member states due to losses in national tax autonomy and adverse incentives in VAT collection and control. If the Commission adheres to its political desiderata, the VIVAT regime turns out to be a promising blueprint for the EU. If the Commission decides to lay aside its preference for compliance symmetry, and accepts that different treatment of domestic and cross-border supplies under the transitional VAT regime should not be regarded discriminatory in the Internal Market, then keeping and revising the transitional system should turn out to be a good VAT strategy for Europe.

Is Tax Harmonization Useful

It is a widely acknowledged result of the literature on international tax competition that an inefficient provision of public goods can only be avoided, if taxes are sufficiently coordinated. In this paper we use a model where governments use commodity and factor taxes in the tax competition game. We show that governments will always choose a second-best efficient tax structure in the Nash equilibrium if they have access to a residence-based capital tax and either a destination-based commodity tax or a labor tax. Moreover, we show that tax competition need not foreclose third-best efficiency in a world with a restricted tax policy toolkit.

Tax Competition and Harmonization in Federal Economies

The objective of the paper is an elaboration of the central economic problem of rational decentralized tax policy in an open economy setting. The paper shows that theoretical models which predict a tax rate reduction run in an environment of unrestricted interjurisdictional competition contrast to empirical evidence of considerable state and local tax rate differentials in countries with traditional subfederal tax autonomy. These findings seem to be due to coordination arrangements, which do not constrain tax rate autonomy. The major lesson for supranational EC tax policy targets is to enforce international tax base transparency and to concentrate on tax base coordination, since tax base erosions induced by the existence of tax havens are recognized as one decisive factor that constrains jurisdictional tax autonomy. Furthermore, tax rate harmonization by binding rate bands may even lead to undesirable third-best policies that create additional welfare losses in comparison to autonomous tax reforms which restructure national tax bases.

Ist eine duale Einkommensteuer einfacher und gerechter als eine umfassende Einkommensteuer

Die umfassende Einkommensteuer ist ein Leitbild der Steuerpolitik, das aus okonomischer Sicht den finanzwissenschaftlichen Grundsatzen eines rationalen und gerechten Steuersystems entspricht und sich im demokratischen Willensbildungsprozess in praktisch allen entwickelten Volkswirtschaften als gesellschaftlich mehrheitsfahig erwiesen hat.

On the Quality of Publicly Supplied Goods

We have all worried at some time about the low quality of, and also quality hypertrophies in, public supply. This paper draws attention to a particular second-best solution of this problem: given the political and technological constraints that restrict the ability of public enterprises to quality-differentiate, which kind of standardized quality is the best? Section I answers some basic questions: why is the case of standardized quality of publicly supplied goods of particular importance? In which situations does the regulating politician or the manager of a public enterprise need the normative advice that our paper presents? How can we get individuals to reveal their preferences for quality of public supply? Section II develops the rules that the politician (manager) should follow in order to optimize welfare or to find majority support. A brief concluding section summarizes the major findings.

Ist eine Spekulationssteuer wünschenswert

Die deutsche Einkommensteuer orientiert sich an der Leitidee der umfassenden Einkommensteuer: Dies folgt sowohl aus der Ausgestaltung der Einkommensteuergesetze, die trotz vielfaltiger Reformschritte in § 2 EStG das Schanz/Haig/Simons-Prinzip (SHS) des steuerpflichtigen Gesamteinkommens stets beibehalten haben, als auch aus der Rechtsprechung des Bundesverfassungsgerichts, das in seinen Urteilsbegrundungen dem Prinzip der Besteuerung nach der Leistungsfahigkeit und des umfassenden Einkommens als Leistungsfahigkeitsindikator folgt.

Measuring the burden of taxation: An index number approach

Quantitative indicators of the tax burden used in political discussions, quite often do not prove very reliable for two reasons; either they are rather crude summary measures or they are rather selectivly chosen benchmark tax load figures. A natural way to improve the situation is to introduce an index number concept. The paper deals with index numbers for commodity taxes first. Fix weight commodity tax indices are defined and calculated numerically for Austria in close relation to official statistical price index analogues. To overcome the bias of Laspeyres indices economic tax burden indices are defined, which may be extended to include the deadweight loss of distorting consumer taxes as a burden element. Direct taxes may be included in both statistical and economic household outlay indices, which also are closely related to the well known price indices. Nevertheless many convenient properties do not hold any more due to endogenous labour supply, distortions caused by the income tax code, and progressive tax schedules. Although the economic approach tends to relate the tax index number concept to applied general equilibrium models, the empirical relevance of tax burden indices is demonstrated by calculating and interpreting monthly time series for Austria.

Zur Operationalisierung von steuerstatistischem Datenmaterial

Mit der steigenden Steuerbelastung in entwickelten Volkswirtschaften gewinnen Fragen der Struktur des Steuersystems im Zusammenhang mit verteilungspolitischen, aber auch mit fiskalischen und allokationspolitischen Zielsetzungen zunehmend an Bedeutung. Besonderes Interesse gilt im österreichischen Finanzsystem der Lohnsteuer, die bereits rund ein Viertel der öffentlichen Abgaben erbringt und deren Anteil aufgrund ihrer hohen Aufkommenselastizität weiter wachsen wird. Als Datenquelle für die Wirkung der Lohnbesteuerung steht im wesentlichen nur die Lohnsteuerstatistik des Osterreichischen Statistischen Zentralamtes zur Verfügung, die in dreijährigen Abständen erhoben und mit einer zeitlichen Verzögerung von 3 bis 5 Jahren veröffentlicht wird. Obwohl in der Lohnsteuerstatistik eine Fülle von Information verarbeitet ist, ergeben sich für den Benutzer Probleme in der Anwendung dieser Informationsquelle. Diese Probleme liegen zum einen im Aktualitätsdefizit der Lohnsteuerstatistik aufgrund des time-lags und in der Diskontinuität der Daten. Zum anderen liegen sie aber auch darin, daß sich die steuerstatistische Erhebung wesentlich an den verfügbaren Primärquellen orientiert und kaum an den Ansprüchen ihrer Benutzer aus Politik, Verwaltung und Wissenschaft . Um dem Anforderungsprofil der angewandten Steuerpolitik besser zu entsprechen, entwickelten die Verfasser auf der Basis der lohnsteuerstatistischen Daten für ganzjährig Beschäftigte das Lohnsteuermodell L O S T , das es einerseits erlaubt, das Erhebungsmaterial zwischen den Erhebungszeitpunkten und vor allem bis zur Gegenwart fortzuschreiben und das andererseits in der Lage ist, statistisches Material jeweils in der vom Benutzer im konkreten Anwendungsfall gewünschten Form abzurufen.