Narrow Your Choices

Refine By Countries

Refine By Series

Refine By Language

Refine By Date

—

Refine By IMF Taxonomy

Refine By JEL Taxonomy

Refine by LOC Taxonomy

Refine By THEMA Taxonomy

  • Print
  • Save

Business and Economics > Corporate Taxation

You are looking at 1 - 10 of 15 items for :

  • Type: Journal Issue x
  • Social security x
Clear All Modify Search
Cover IMF Working Papers
Personal Income Taxes in the Middle East and North Africa: Prospects and Possibilities
Mario Mansour
and
Eric M. Zolt
Personal income taxes (PITs) play little or no role in the Middle East and North Africa, often yielding less than 2 percent of GDP in revenue—with the exception of few North African countries. This paper examines how PITs have evolved in recent decades, and what they might look like in the next 20 years. Top marginal tax rates on labor and business income of individuals have declined substantially, a trend that mirrors reductions in advanced and developing economies. Taxation of passive capital income has changed very little, and the revenue intake from this source remains low throughout the region (less than 1 percent of GDP on average and concentrated in oil-importing non-fragile states). Social security contributions (SSC) have increased in importance in nearly all MENA countries, and some countries have introduced additional payroll taxes. The combination of reduced marginal tax rates, light taxation of income from capital and business activities, and increase of SSC, have resulted in income tax systems that create disincentives to work and incentives for informality, and contribute little to government revenue and income redistribution. Given differences in economic and political structures, demographics, and starting points, the path to PIT/SSC reforms will vary across the region. Countries with relatively mature PIT/SSC systems, where revenue performance has improved in the past two decades, will increasingly need to balance the revenue and equity objectives against effciency objectives (in particular labor market incentives and infromality). Countries with no PITs will have to weigh whether a consumption tax/SSC system that mimic a flat tax on labor income is sufficient to diversify revenue away from oil and whether to adopt PITs to address rising income and wealth inequality. Finally, fragile states, who face more political volatility and weaker fiscal institutions, will have to focus on simplicity of tax design and collection to be able to raise revenue from PITs.
Keywords:
Personal income taxes; social security contributions; payroll taxes; fragile and conflict states; Middle East and North Africa; Gulf-Cooperation Council; SSC reform; SSC system; revenue performance; PIT objective; PIT revenue; Personal income tax; Income tax systems; Income; Income and capital gains taxes; Corporate income tax; North Africa; Middle East; East Africa; Global
Cover IMF Working Papers
Labor Taxation in the Western Balkan: Looking Back and Forward
Mr. Alain Jousten
,
Mario Mansour
,
Irena Jankulov Suljagic
, and
Charles Vellutini
This paper examines how labor taxation (personal income taxes and social security contributions) in the Western Balkan contributes to labor market outcomes such as high informality and a significant gender gap in participation rates. We find that limited progressivity combined with high tax wedge on low incomes poses a major twin equity-efficiency challenge in the region, resulting in low redistributive capacity and inadequate incentives to enter the job market. Policy implications are discussed with a view to alleviating the excessively high tax wedges on low incomes, while improving progressivity of income taxation.
Keywords:
Western Balkan; labor taxation; labor tax wedge; personal income tax; corporate income tax; social security contributions; income taxation; SSC reduction; employer SSCs; Labor taxes; Tax wedge; Wages; Labor markets; Europe
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Albania: Technical Assistance Report-Tax Policy Reform Options for the MTRS
International Monetary Fund. Fiscal Affairs Dept.
Albania is preparing a Medium-Term Revenue Strategy (MTRS) to finance its development spending of an estimated 2.2–3.0 percent of GDP over five years. Revenue mobilization will be supported by comprehensive tax policy and administration reforms. International and regional comparisons suggest that there is room for additional revenues as well as improvement in the composition of tax revenues. This report presents options for tax policy reform to raise at least an additional 1.34 percent of GDP in revenues over five years and to improve the quality and efficiency of the tax system, that will enable the mobilization of further domestic revenues.
Keywords:
IMF resident representative office; Reform proposal; IMF's Fiscal Affairs Department; c-efficiency ratio; VAT revenue; value-added tax; Value-added tax; Personal income tax; Corporate income tax; Social security contributions; Central and Eastern Europe; Europe
Cover IMF Working Papers
Brazil: Tax Expenditure Rationalization Within Broader Tax Reform
Maria Delgado Coelho
The excessive complexity and burden of the Brazilian tax system, riddled by cumulative indirect taxes and heavy payroll contributions, have led to an accumulation of fiscal incentives aimed at reducing its burden on taxpayers and productive activities. Federal and subnational tax expenditures currently stand at over 5 percent of GDP. Rationalizing them can only be comprehensively feasible in the context of a broader sequenced tax reform, and could reduce resource misallocation and income inequality, as well as provide new revenues.
Keywords:
rationalization experience; Labor tax wedge; sequenced tax reform; cost of capital; zero rating; tax relief; single tax; Tax expenditures; Corporate income tax; Tax incentives; Personal income tax; Social security contributions; Global
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Germany: Selected Issues
International Monetary Fund. European Dept.
This Selected Issues paper explores wealth inequality and private savings in Germany. Trends in increasing corporate profits and gross savings have widened top income inequality, as corporations are typically owned by households in the top of the wealth distribution. The impact on income inequality is more pronounced in countries where the rise in profitability was a result of lower wage growth and labor income shares to start with, as was the case in Germany. The evidence strongly suggests this is not the case and underscores the important role of German business wealth concentration in this context. As high corporate savings and underlying profits largely reflect capital income accruing to wealthy households and increasingly retained in closely-held firms, the build-up of external imbalance has been accompanied by widening top income inequality, rising private savings and compressed consumption rates. The concentration of privately held and publicly listed firm ownership in the hands of industrial dynasties and institutional investors is especially prevalent in Germany, possibly reflecting distortions in firm entry, financing conditions and tax incentives.
Keywords:
ISCR; CR; net; wealth inequality; accelerated depreciation; inequality loop; social security contribution rate; saving rate; labor tax wedge; Income inequality; Income; Corporate income tax; Income distribution; Private savings; Global; Europe; Eastern Europe
Cover IMF Working Papers
Tax Policy Measures in Advanced and Emerging Economies: A Novel Database
Mr. David Amaglobeli
,
Mr. Valerio Crispolti
,
Ms. Era Dabla-Norris
,
Pooja Karnane
, and
Florian Misch
This paper describes a new, comprehensive database of tax policy measures in 23 advanced and emerging market economies over the last four decades. We extract this information from more than 900 OECD Economic Surveys and 37,000 tax-related news from the International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation using text-mining techniques. The innovation of this dataset lies in its granularity: changes in the rates and bases of personal and corporate income taxes, value added and sale taxes, social security contributions, excise, and property taxes are systematically documented. In addition, the database provides information on the announcement and implementation dates, whether the measures represent major changes, are part of a broader tax package, and phased in over several years. The paper also presents a range of stylized facts suggesting that information from this database is useful to deepen the analysis of tax policy changes for research and policy purposes.
Keywords:
WP; tax; VAT; CIT; PIT; tax measure; Tax Reforms; Text Mining; Tax Policy; Implementation Lags; Political Economy; tax package; reform package; major tax; rate change; VAT measure; Corporate income tax; Personal income tax; Tax type organization; Value-added tax; Social security contributions; Global
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Bosnia and Herzegovina: Selected Issues
International Monetary Fund. European Dept.
This Selected Issues paper analyzes government spending in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). The size of the public sector in BiH is one of the largest in the region, owing mainly to a complex and highly decentralized governance structure. BiH spends a greater share of public resources on current spending items, notably on wages and social transfers. Moreover, poorly targeted social benefits generate adverse incentives with respect to informality and labor force participation. To enhance economic growth, BiH will need to refocus its spending and increase its efficiency, chiefly on spending on human and physical capital.
Keywords:
ISCR; CR; BiH Agency for Statistics; NICs; rate; BiH; tax rate; health indicator; SSC rate; enrollment rate; SSC revenue; labor market outcome; public sector rank; SSC collection; Social security contributions; Labor markets; Employment; Global; Eastern Europe; Europe; Southern Europe; Central Asia
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
France: Selected Issues Paper
International Monetary Fund
This note estimates potential output for France during 1980–2010, using three distinct approaches, and discusses long-term growth prospects. The focus on capital taxation highlights the need for a broader reform of the French tax system to address the features that hamper job growth, investment, and productivity growth. This paper analyzes the impact of Basel III capital requirements on French banks and the French economy, and proposes policy recommendations. French banks should be able to meet the new requirements through earnings retention.
Keywords:
ISCR; CR; France; staff calculation; financial crisis; labor force; product market reform; TFP growth; capital requirement; output loss; Basel III; Corporate income tax; Labor taxes; Social security contributions; Tax wedge; Global; Europe
Cover IMF Staff Position Notes
Long-Term Trends in Public Finances in the G-7 Economies
Ms. Andrea Schaechter
and
Mr. Carlo Cottarelli
Today’s record public debt levels in most advanced economies are not only a direct fall-out from the global crisis. Public debt had ratcheted up over many decades before, when it had been used, in most of the G-7 countries, as the ultimate shock absorber—rising in bad times but not declining much in good times. Alongside, primary spending increased, particularly during 1965–85, reflecting predominantly a surge in health care and pension spending. Looking ahead, advanced economies will face the formidable challenge of reducing debt ratios at a time when ageing-related spending, in particular often underestimated pressures from health care systems, will put additional pressure on public finances. Addressing these fiscal challenges will require growth-friendly structural reforms, a fiscal strategy involving gradual but steady fiscal adjustment, stronger fiscal institutions, expenditure and revenue reforms, and an appropriate degree of burden sharing across all stakeholders.
Keywords:
SPN; country; debt ratio; debt; GDP; G-7; interest rate; government debt ratios; country difference; IMF staff estimate; government expenditure; baseline debt projection; public debt debt ratio; Health care spending; Social security contributions; Corporate income tax; Europe; Global
Cover IMF Working Papers
Tax and Welfare Reforms in the Czech Republic—Structural Implications and Challenges
Mr. Thomas Dalsgaard
The paper provides an analysis and discussion of key structural implications of the 2007 and 2008 welfare and tax reforms in the Czech Republic. Based on a detailed micro-study of marginal and average effective tax rates for individuals at various points along the earnings curve, it concludes that while incentives to save and invest have improved, work incentives are being severely hampered by high marginal effective tax rates for low- and middle income individuals. The reforms also fail to address the most pressing fiscal concern: to put government finances on a sustainable path.
Keywords:
WP; labor market; tax burden; low income; government spending; tax revenue