Making Fundamental Tax Reform Happen

This paper discusses the objectives of tax reform and explores the most important environmental factors that influence the reform process, focusing on the circumstances that explain when these objectives and environmental factors may become an obstacle to the design and implementation of tax policies. The second part of this paper discusses strategies that might help policy makers to successfully implement fundamental tax reforms.

Taxation and Innovation

Innovation is the cornerstone of sustained economic growth and prosperity. In a globalised world, innovation is a key driver of competitiveness between businesses and it plays a critical role in the rapid growth of emerging economies.

What is a "Competitive" Tax System?

This paper considers how tax policy and administration impact on an economy’s competitiveness and reviews various measures of ‘tax competitiveness’

Trends in Top Incomes and their Tax Policy Implications

This paper uses data derived from tax returns to analyse trends in the share of pre-tax personal income going to top income recipients. These data provide a more reliable source of information on top incomes than household surveys and allow a perspective of almost a century. Since the early 1980s there has been a recovery in the share of top incomes, especially in the share of the top percentile group.

Consumption Taxation as an Additional Burden on Labour Income

The OECD’s Taxing Wages (TW) Report1 provides details of taxes paid on wages in the 34 OECD member countries. In particular, it covers the personal income tax and social security contributions paid by employees and their employers, as well as cash benefits received by families.

Tax Reform Trends in OECD Countries

Over the last two decades almost all OECD countries have made major structural changes to their tax systems. In the case of the personal and corporate income tax regimes reforms have generally been rate reducing and base broadening, following the lead given by the United Kingdom in 1984 and the United States in 1986. In some countries, including Australia and New Zealand, reforms have been profound and sometimes implemented over a

Wage Income Tax Reforms and Changes in Tax Burdens: 2000-2009

The tax burden on labour and its evolution over time are issues that feature prominently in the political debate. Averaged across the OECD, personal income taxes, social security contributions and payroll taxes together account for more than 51% of total government revenues in 2008 (OECD, 2010).

Tax reform can create jobs

High unemployment rates, in the wake of the financial and economic crisis, have governments scrambling to create jobs. A new OECD report suggests that well-targeted tax reforms can encourage employers to hire more people and the jobless to look for employment.

OECD Tax Policy Study No. 21: Taxation and Employment

How do taxes affect the level of employment? What reforms can reduce unemployment and increase labour force participation? These questions are answered in OECD Tax Policy Study No. 21: Taxation and Employment.

Related Documents

• OECD Tax Policy Studies
• OECD Employment Outlook 2011
• Taxing Wages
• Tax Policy Study No. 20 - Tax Policy Reform and Economic Growth

OECD Tax Policy Study 21 - Executive Summary

The report provides both a broad overview of the effects of taxation on employment as well as a detailed analysis of selected issues.