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Europe > Ireland

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Cover IMF How To Notes
How to Evaluate Tax Expenditures
Sebastian Beer
,
Ms. Dora Benedek
,
Brian Erard
, and
Jan Loeprick
Governments use tax expenditures (TEs) to provide financial support or benefits to taxpayers. The budgetary impact of TEs can be similar to that of direct outlays: after the support is provided, less money is available to fund other government priorities. Systematic evaluations are needed to guide informed decision-mak¬ing and to avoid a situation where the narrative on the benefits of TEs is primarily driven by profiting stakeholders. By TE “evaluation,” this note refers to a process that seeks to systematically inform policymak¬ers on the desirability of introducing or maintaining specific tax benefits by gathering and analyzing avail¬able quantitative and qualitative information on their effects. Evaluation processes can be tailored to different levels of data availability and analytical capacity. An evaluation should focus on the policy objective of a TE and whether it effectively and efficiently contrib¬utes to that policy objective. Although important lessons can be learned from coun¬try practices in implementing increasingly ambitious evaluation processes, there is no single best-practice approach to replicate.
Keywords:
tax expenditures; cost-benefit assessment; public policy evaluation; sample evaluation; publication order; publication service; title page; post evaluation; Tax incentives; Compliance costs; Value-added tax; Global; East Asia
Cover Departmental Papers
Taxing Multinationals in Europe
Ernesto Crivelli
,
Ruud A. de Mooij
,
J. E. J. De Vrijer
,
Mr. Shafik Hebous
, and
Mr. Alexander D Klemm
This paper aims to contribute to the European policy debate on corporate income tax reform in three ways. First, it takes a step back to review the performance of the CIT in Europe over the past several decades and the important role played by MNEs in European economies. Second, it analyses corporate tax spillovers in Europe with a focus on the channels and magnitudes of both profit shifting and CIT competition. Third, the paper examines the progress made in European CIT coordination and discusses reforms to strengthen the harmonization of corporate tax policies, in order to effectively reduce both tax competition and profit shifting.
Keywords:
Europe; International taxation; Corporate taxation; Multinational corporations; Corporate profits; Tax competition; MNE profits; revenue effect; EU code of conduct; effects of the CCCTB reform; profit shifting; Corporate income tax; Corporate taxes; Competition; Formula apportionment; Global
Cover IMF Working Papers
Fiscal Redistribution and Social Welfare
Mr. David Coady
,
Devin D'Angelo
, and
Brooks Evans
Fiscal policy is a key tool for achieving distributional objectives in advanced economies. This paper embeds the discussion of fiscal redistribution within the standard social welfare framework, which lends itself to a transparent and practical evaluation of the extent and determinants of fiscal redistribution. Differences in fiscal redistribution are decomposed into differences in the magnitude of transfers (fiscal effort) and in the progressivity of transfers (fiscal progressivity). Fiscal progressivity is further decomposed into differences in the distribution of transfers across income groups (targeting performance) and in the social welfare returns to targeting due to varying initial levels of income inequality (targeting returns). This decomposition provides a clear distinction between the concepts of progressivity and targeting, and clarifies the relationship between them. For illustrative purposes, the framework is applied to data for 28 EU countries to determine the factors explaining differences in their fiscal redistribution and to discuss patterns in fiscal redistribution highlighted in the literature.
Keywords:
WP; fiscal policy; Fiscal redistribution; progressivity; targeting; transfers; taxes; benefit share; welfare impact; EUROMOD data; transfer program; percentage decrease; share of transfer; cost-benefit ratio; welfare weight; Income inequality; Personal income; Progressive taxation; Income distribution
Cover IMF Working Papers
Recognizing the Bias: Financial Cycles and Fiscal Policy
Mrs. Nina T Budina
,
Mr. Borja Gracia
,
Xingwei Hu
, and
Mr. Sergejs Saksonovs
This paper argues that asset price cycles have significant effects on fiscal outcomes. In particular, there is evidence of debt bias—the tendency of debt to increase over the cycle— that is significantly larger for house price cycles than stand-alone business cycles. Automatic stabilizers and discretionary fiscal policy generally respond to output fluctuations, whereas revenue increases due to house price booms are largely treated as permanent. Thus, neglecting the direct and indirect impact of asset prices on fiscal accounts encourages procyclical fiscal policies.
Keywords:
WP; debt; price; housing cycles; public debt; private debt; debt bias; bias estimate; state dummy; growth shock; growth episode; output gap downturn; cycle episode; house-price shock; house price episode; house price cycles result in a public sector debt bias; cycles result in a public sector debt bias; house price cycle episode; Housing prices; Financial cycles; Global
Cover IMF Working Papers
Fiscal Devaluation in a Monetary Union
Philipp Engler
,
Mr. Giovanni Ganelli
,
Juha Tervala
, and
Simon Voigts
Using a DSGE model calibrated to the euro area, we analyze the international effects of a fiscal devaluation (FD) implemented as a revenue-neutral shift from employer's social contributions to the Value Added Tax. We find that a FD in ‘Southern European countries’ has a strong positive effect on output, but mild effects on the trade balance and the real exchange rate. Since the benefits of a FD are small relative to the divergence in competitiveness, it is best addressed through structural reforms.
Keywords:
WP; Southern European countries; expenditure switching; Fiscal devaluation; fiscal policy; euro area; currency union; current account; output effect; Southern European countries of the Southern European countries; trade balance effect; open economy; expenditure switching effect; households in Southern European countries; imperfect competition; fiscal devaluation in Southern European countries; deficit in Southern European countries; devaluation in Southern European countries; Value-added tax; Trade balance; Consumption; Personal income tax; Southern Europe
Cover Policy Papers
Debt Bias and Other Distortions: Crisis-Related Issues in Tax Policy
International Monetary Fund
Tax distortions are likely to have encouraged excessive leveraging and other financial market problems evident in the crisis. These effects have been little explored, but are potentially macro-relevant. Taxation can result, for example, in a net subsidy to borrowing of hundreds of basis points, raising debt-equity ratios and vulnerabilities from capital inflows. This paper reviews key channels by which tax distortions can significantly affect financial markets, drawing implications for tax design once the crisis has passed.
Keywords:
PP; financial asset; tax liability; income tax; cash flow; tax rate; stamp duty; property tax; retained earnings; Corporate income tax; Housing prices; Housing; Debt bias; Income tax systems
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
New Zealand: Selected Issues
International Monetary Fund
This Selected Issues paper conducts a comparative analysis of the main determinants of GDP per capita growth in New Zealand and in other OECD countries to assess the relative importance of macroeconomic factors, institutional settings, and geographical location in New Zealand’s growth performance during the last 30 years. The estimation results find strong support for the view that geographical isolation has significantly hampered growth in New Zealand. The paper also reviews the international experience with prefunding public defined-benefit pension schemes, with a focus on recent reforms in industrial countries—Canada, Ireland, Norway, and Sweden.
Keywords:
ISCR; CR; monetary policy; fiscal policy action; GDP; discretionary fiscal policy; fiscal policy rule; fiscal policy mechanism; policy credibility; Pension spending; Pensions; Inflation; Marginal effective tax rate; Australia and New Zealand
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Ireland: Selected Issues
International Monetary Fund
This Selected Issues paper examines the competitiveness of the Irish manufacturing sector. The paper highlights that in 2001, production cuts and accelerating wage growth arrested the trend improvement in external competitiveness, but the level remains high. The paper presents some medium-term fiscal scenarios. It discusses indicators of financial system soundness based on official data and publications, as well as discussions with the authorities. The paper also examines indicators on the vulnerability and solvency of the financial system and presents a brief description of supervision arrangements.
Keywords:
ISCR; CR; Ireland; revenue; industry; exchange rate; yield; spending estimate; revenue projection; clocks instruments industry; tax yield; zero rating; revenue elasticity; competitiveness gain; interest suspense accounts arise; asset ratio; NACE industry 24; computing machinery industry; Fiscal stance; Manufacturing; Average effective tax rate; Global; Australia and New Zealand; Europe
Cover IMF Working Papers
Structural Funds and the 1992 Program in the European Community
Mr. James P. F. Gordon
Equity and efficiency justifications are found for the Community’s Structural Funds which are discovered to be carefully targeted at depressed regions, albeit with some horizontal inequities. If Fund transfers displace national assistance, then they may be misallocated by being tied to regional indicators. The recent doubling in size enhances the Funds’ ability to assist losers from the creation of a single European market in 1992. However, they fall short of constituting a safety net since they provide little automatic assistance to regions suffering negative shocks. Compensation of losers from the 1992 program would require an overhaul of the present allocation system, if not a further increase in scale.
Keywords:
WP; country; ESF commitment; EC region; ERDF country range; ERDF assistance; EC budget; ERDF grant; Personal income; Unemployment rate; Tax equity; Unemployment; Global
Cover IMF Working Papers
Estimating the Base of the Value-Added Tax (VAT) in Developing Countries: The Problem of Exemptions
Mr. George A Mackenzie
Developing countries with VATs typically exempt a large number of goods and services. Following a brief discussion of the rationale for exemptions, this paper presents a formula for the base of a VAT with exemptions. Two basic adjustments must be made to the base without exemptions: subtraction of the value of sales to consumers of exempt industries and addition of intermediate sales of taxable inputs to exempt industries. The paper concludes with a derivation of the elasticity of a VAT with exemptions with respect to aggregate consumption and a discussion of the implications of technological change for the VAT base.
Keywords:
WP; capital goods; tax liability; consumption-type VAT; intermediate sale; taxed goods; n products; VAT base; Consumption; Value-added tax; VAT exemptions; Consumption taxes; Effective tax rate