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Building on recent works calling for more tax research in the family business context, this study draws on the distinction between restricted and extended socioemotional wealth (SEW) to analyze how both SEW dimensions affect tax aggressiveness. Based on a sample of 201 private Belgian family firms, consistent findings from multiple regression analyses indicate that restricted SEW is positively related to tax aggressiveness, whereas extended SEW exerts a negative influence on tax aggressiveness. Our results also indicate that the family status of the CEO, CEO gender and CEO tenure moderate the relationship between both SEW dimensions and tax aggressiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I derive a stationary distribution of lifetime wealth accumulation factor in a model featuring inheritance of productivity, wealth, and health condition, where lifetime wealth is the sum of financial wealth and human wealth. Assuming ex-ante heterogeneity in the death rate, I show that the distribution of the lifetime wealth accumulation factor is constituted by a weighted sum of shape-differing Pareto distributions. It is shown that raising the wealth tax reduces inequality of lifetime wealth not only within a death-rate type but also across all the death-rate types. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Foco (Interdisciplinary Studies Journal) is the property of Revista Foco and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In this study, we examine the importance of estate planning and inter-vivos transfers towards the end of life. To that end, we use administrative data on all deaths taking place in the Netherlands between 2006 and 2013. We link these to wealth and income tax records and the hospital discharge register. Employing these unique data, we distinguish between sudden and non-sudden deaths and study how they compare in terms of wealth at death. Our results show that non-sudden deaths are associated with significantly less financial wealth at the time of death. We interpret this difference as the result of inter-vivos transfers that result from estate planning towards the end of life. We find significant effects not only at the top of the wealth distribution but along the entire upper half of the distribution. Diseases with a relatively low survival rate that do not affect cognitive abilities appear as the most likely to trigger estate planning. These results have important implication for gift and inheritance tax schedules that allow for tax avoidance via exemptions and the progressivity of the tax rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the end of the civil rights movement, the United States has not made meaningful progress toward closing the racial wealth gap. Without deliberate policy intervention, this gap will likely persist. Racial justice activists and policymakers, aiming in part to close this gap, have put forth various reparations programs. Others have proposed race-neutral wealth redistribution policies that also promise to address the gap, but as an indirect consequence of redistributing wealth in general. The potential impact of this second set of proposals on racial wealth inequality remains understudied. This article addresses this deficit through counterfactual historical simulation: By assessing the thirty-year impact of these race-neutral proposals, it finds significant reductions in the racial wealth gap over a generation. Yet these race-neutral programs have limitations vis-à-vis the broader goals of racial justice; this article concludes by emphasizing the unique capacities of reparations programs to address these limitations.

Türkiye, tüm dünyayı geniş ölçüde etkileyen II. Dünya Savaşı’na fiili olarak katılmasa da savaştan siyasi, sosyal ve ekonomik olarak etkilenmiştir. Savaş koşulları nedeniyle yeterli ihracat yapılmaması ve yurtiçi üretim değerlerindeki düşüş büyük şehirlerde iaşe sorununu doğurmuştur. Devletin mevcut zorlu şartların altından kalkabilmek için vergilere başvurmuştur. Savaş sürecinde halktan Millî Korunma Yasası, Toprak Mahsulleri Vergisi, Yol Vergisi, Varlık Vergisi gibi farklı isimlerde vergiler talep edilmiştir. Ancak bunların içinde en çok dikkat çeken Varlık Vergisi olmuştur. Savaş esnasında yüksek miktarda servet elde eden zengin kesimin mükellef olduğu Varlık Vergisi 16 ay gibi kısa bir süre uygulanmasına rağmen etkisini uzun yıllar devam ettirmiştir. Öyle ki vergi mükelleflerinin çoğunlukla gayrimüslimlerden oluşması dünya kamuoyunun dikkatini çekmiştir. Bu bağlamda İngiliz basınında oldukça etkili bir yere sahip olan The Times gazetesi de Varlık Vergisini köşesine taşımıştır. The Times’da verginin teoride makul olduğu kabul edilirken uygulamadaki aksaklıklara değinilmiştir. Türkiye’de yaşayan İngiliz vatandaşlarının vergi karşısındaki durumunun ne olacağı irdelenmiştir.

Since the end of the civil rights movement, the United States has not made meaningful progress toward closing the racial wealth gap. Without deliberate policy intervention, this gap will likely persist. Racial justice activists and policymakers, aiming in part to close this gap, have put forth various reparations programs. Others have proposed race-neutral wealth redistribution policies that also promise to address the gap, but as an indirect consequence of redistributing wealth in general. The potential impact of this second set of proposals on racial wealth inequality remains understudied. This article addresses this deficit through counterfactual historical simulation: By assessing the thirty-year impact of these race-neutral proposals, it finds significant reductions in the racial wealth gap over a generation. Yet these race-neutral programs have limitations vis-à-vis the broader goals of racial justice; this article concludes by emphasizing the unique capacities of reparations programs to address these limitations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United States federal income tax contains a flaw: Because it reaches capital gains only after a "realization" event, it permits owners of highly appreciated assets to defer their tax liability by holding them and refusing to sell. Worse yet, easily available debt allows those owners to consume from their "unrealized" gains while continuing to defer tax. As Professor Edward McCaffery identified in 2012, consumption and deferral through secured borrowing, coupled with the stepped-up basis death benefit from section 1014 of the Internal Revenue Code, create an opportunity for individuals to avoid lifetime income tax and net estate tax. This strategy, known as "buy/borrow/die," contributes to consumption inequality and, by extension, America's growing wealth inequality. In the tax literature, buy/borrow/die has served as a helpful hook for supporters of wealth taxes, mark-to-market income taxes, and the repeal of section 1014's stepped-up basis provision. But these three solutions merit some pragmatic concern, on the grounds that they are (to varying degrees) possibly unconstitutional, likely to be repealed, or publicly unpopular. Recognizing those practical obstacles should steer policymakers toward an incremental second-best solution: treating borrowing against appreciated collateral as a realization event. Embracing a "realization at borrowing" policy would reduce the availability of buy/borrow/die as a tax reduction strategy while sidestepping the hurdles that other proposed solutions must clear. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the democracy and family wealth regulation in Kenya and the regulation approach to inheritance tax. Topics discussed include history of estate tax in Kenya, wealth taxes, national taxation policy and challenges and prospects for increasing wealth tax, responsive regulation in taxation and government strategy for introducing taxes on wealth such as tax on High Net Worth Individuals.

After the Federal Constitutional Court declared the previous property tax system unconstitutional in 2018, eleven federal states chose the so-called federal model as the new procedure. It continues to be based on the valuation of properties using the modified Valuation Act. This assumes static value ratios, which may have become significantly outdated and no longer contribute to equal taxation. In addition, the character of the property tax as a special wealth tax is extremely antiquated and is no longer constitutional. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article highlights the complexity of taxation surrounding cryptocurrency transactions due to the lack of uniform regulation, creating uncertainty for both taxpayers and tax authorities. After determining the tax obligations of individuals in taxation, a survey has been conducted to assess the level of knowledge and compliance with tax obligations related to cryptocurrencies. The survey, in which 103 people participated, reveals the confusion and errors that prevail in perceptions of the tax obligations for cryptocurrencies, particularly in transactions such as swapping and staking in personal income tax. This results in almost half of the respondents (49.5%) not declaring any of their operations with cryptocurrencies. The reasons for this include the fact that the majority of respondents (66%) find the regulation of cryptocurrencies in Spain confusing and difficult to understand. Additionally, 87.4% believe that tax agencies should provide more information and resources on the taxation of cryptocurrencies and digital assets, and that there should be clearer and more comprehensive regulation. However, it should be noted that 41.7% also consider that tax regulation discourages investment in cryptocurrencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CO2 emissions are disproportionately caused by more affluent consumers. In the political debate, this fact has triggered the demand for income redistribution and wealth taxes not only to reduce inequality but also to reduce CO2 emissions. This paper calculates the possible size of a green dividend, i.e., a reduction in total national CO2 emissions, of redistribution in 26 countries and concludes that, for most EU countries, it is negative if the redistribution is efficient, in the sense that it keeps average incomes constant. If the redistribution introduces inefficiencies that lead to total income losses, the negative green dividend, otherwise associated with additional redistribution, may be avoided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In June 2023, the Supreme Court granted the petition for a writ of certiorari in Moore v. United States, ostensibly a challenge to an obscure provision of the 2017 tax legislation. Moore's real target is the constitutionality of federal wealth and accrual taxation, which policymakers have proposed to combat record inequality and raise revenue for social-welfare reform. At the center of the doctrinal dispute in Moore is a century-old case, Eisner v. Macomber, on which the Moore petitioners and other commentators have relied to argue that Congress has no power to tax wealth or unrealized gains--e.g., appreciation in unsold stocks. Most scholars agree that Macomber limited Congress's taxing power to realized income, and they argue that subsequent cases have abrogated Macomber. However, the Supreme Court has never overruled--in fact, went out of its way not to overrule--Macomber, and some contend that it remains good law. This Article reconceptualizes Macomber and analyzes its doctrinal implications for structural tax reform. In contrast to the prevailing scholarly views, it argues that Macomber is best read as a case turning on the absence of income rather than realization. Through careful analysis of the majority opinion and its doctrinal background, including constitutional challenges to the Civil War income tax, the Article articulates five interpretive models of Macomber. By examining little-read cases on the taxation of lease improvements and corporate reorganizations from the 1920s to the 1940s, the Article shows that Macomber's doctrinal progeny eliminated three of those models, left undisturbed another, and reaffirmed the income-centric model. Under the income-centric model, Macomber poses no serious barrier to federal wealth or accretion taxation. In fact, it suggests avenues to designing a constitutional wealth tax that might otherwise fail judicial scrutiny. This firmer ground for a broad conception of the federal taxing power allows Congress to enact structural tax reform to vindicate our democracy's commitment to egalitarianism and distributive justice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Jurídica de Castilla y León is the property of Junta de Castilla y Leon, Direccion de Servicios Juridicos and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

We present evidence on how individual risk preferences are related to entrepreneurial investment among the wealthy. To do so, we use novel survey data from the top of the wealth distribution, which have been fully integrated into the 2019 German Socio-economic Panel Study. The data include private wealth balance sheets, in particular the value of own private business assets, and a standard measure of risk tolerance. We find that wealthy individuals are more likely to be entrepreneurs and invest a larger share of their wealth in their own businesses when they are more willing to take risks. A comparison with less wealthy individuals reveals that these associations are stronger among the wealthy. Since the wealthy dominate aggregate risky investment, their extraordinarily high preference for risk and its link to entrepreneurial activity should be taken into account in theory development, empirical analysis, and the design of public policies influencing the riskiness of income and wealth such as progressive taxation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study is to investigate the applicability of the One-Off Net Wealth Tax, which can be applied as an emergency tax to solve the fiscal problems caused by fiscal shocks and extraordinary situations (epidemics, earthquakes, etc.) faced by countries. Net wealth tax is included in the tax systems of a small number of countries due to reasons such as increased capital and taxpayer mobility, increased opportunities for tax avoidance and evasion, wealth valuation problems and the cost of implementation of the tax. However, today, third party reporting on wealth and capital income and new international standards on international exchange of information, especially under the leadership of the OECD, together with the methods introduced to wealth valuation with the developing technology and the decreasing costs of processing large databases, increase the applicability of this tax. The conclusion of our study is that the one-off net wealth tax should be evaluated together with other options as a financing option in extraordinary situations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the multifaceted influence of homeownership on charitable giving through several channels: tax deductibility, household wealth, and mobility. We find that homeowners donate substantially more than renters, and tax deductibility, wealth, and mobility are important predictors of the owner-renter gap in donations. We also show that the owner-renter difference in donations cannot be fully explained by these three channels. After controlling for an extensive list of household characteristics and the three channels, homeowners still donate approximately 20% more than renters. Our results are robust to a variety of modeling and identification strategies as well as different measures of donations. Our study further reveals that the likelihood of donating correlates inversely with mobility but is insensitive to tax deductibility and wealth. In contrast, tax deductibility and wealth are important predictors of the size of contributions. Furthermore, we show the owner-renter difference in donations varies substantially by generational cohorts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores the concept of a national wealth tax in the United States and examines current proposals and policies in other countries. It discusses the challenges and critiques of implementing a federal wealth tax, including tax evasion and enforcement issues. The article suggests that administrative challenges can be overcome with appropriate legal and policy decisions. It concludes by advocating for the adoption of a federal wealth tax in the United States to address economic inequality and generate revenue for social spending programs. [Extracted from the article]

The Kingdom of Aceh Darussalam (ruled 1514 to 1903) was a famous Islamic kingdom in the history of the archipelago. The peak of its glory was reached during the time of Sultan Iskandar Muda (reigned 1607-1636). The glory and fame of this kingdom was created because of Sultan Iskandar Muda's ability to regulate political-economic policies, especially the tax and customs sectors as the main pillars of the kingdom's wealth income. This article discusses the income of royal wealth from the tax and customs sector, which includes tax and excise objects, the management of their collection and the sultan's policies in reviving the tax sector. Sultan Iskandar Muda has built the port of Bandar Aceh into a large port and concentrated the trade in pepper and commodities which have a high selling value on the world market only in this city. The impact is that Bandar Aceh is visited by merchant ships from the archipelago and abroad. Traders, foreign and local, are charged taxes and excise, such as adat stamp or adat lapik cap (the sultan's permission to land), adat wase kuala (fees for guarding parking and guarding ships entering and leaving the port), stall tax on merchandise/trading place. Taxes are also collected from local traders who sell at the market. Apart from that, land tax is also levied (wase tanoh), farmers who receive irrigation are subject to the customary but umong tax, farmers who seek forest products are subject to wase gle tax), people who litigate in court are subject to the customary tuha tax, people who die but do not leaving his heirs his wealth to be put into the royal treasury, as well as foreign traders. Income from various types of taxes and excise is intended to build various facilities and infrastructure to strengthen and advance the kingdom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Espacio, Tiempo y Forma. Serie III, Historia Medieval is the property of Editorial UNED and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Rising wealth inequality and squeezed public budgets has brought wealth tax back into policy discussions. A net wealth tax might help to boost state revenue and reduce wealth inequality. Yet little is known about citizens' attitudes towards the design of a net wealth tax (i.e. the tax unit, exemption and rate). Using a novel multifactorial survey experiment, we examine citizens' endorsement of fundamental principles of taxation. Building on policy feedback theory, we examine if preferences differ in three policy arenas (USA, Germany and UK) and whether individuals' reasoning is dependent on self-interest. While a clear majority in all three countries generally endorses a wealth tax, our findings show that citizens care more about the amount exempted than the tax unit or rate. We do not identify a preference for any specific tax unit. Furthermore, tax preferences seem to be strikingly similar among citizens of all three countries. Yet we show that individuals are mostly concerned about not being personally affected by such a tax, which is reflected in their preference for substantial exemptions. We discuss our findings with regard to our understanding of wealth inequality, tax equity and the potential implications for policymakers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista del ICDT is the property of Instituto Colombiano de Derecho Tributario and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper challenges economic theory applied within empirical literature on housing allowances for rent. The arguments challenged are (i) subsidy is a price drop, which increases demand, (ii) allowance is income, where housing is a normal good, which raises demand, (iii) higher subsidy increases willingness to pay more for housing, and (iv) allowance incentivises optimal consumption to their highest achievable value. In practice, tenants remain unaware of price discounts for the distribution of rents, rendering revealed preference/demand theory inconsistent. Not incomes, allowances (in New Zealand) unfold as a(regressive) negative income and wealth tax unique to each recipients resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Free and Equal: What Would a Fair Society Look Like?" is a book by Daniel Chandler that explores the political philosophy of John Rawls. The book explains Rawls's principles, such as the basic liberties principle, fair equality of opportunity, difference principle, and just savings principle, and how they can be applied in policy design and analysis. Chandler also presents various policy suggestions, including liberal patriotism, sortition, limitations on political donations, gender-neutral parental leave, universal basic income, and wealth taxes. While the book is praised for its defense of markets and its sophisticated policy analysis, some critics argue that it proposes a political economy that already exists in countries like Australia, Canada, and the Nordic countries. Additionally, the book is criticized for not engaging substantively with Rawls's critics and for its lack of attention to cultural and identitarian issues. Overall, "Free and Equal" offers a vision for a fair society but may not provide a comprehensive plan for achieving it. [Extracted from the article]

Wealth taxes are back on the political agenda of developed democracies, but are subject to contestation. Given increasing inequality, middle classes may support wealth taxes so to redistribute wealth from the rich. However, asset appreciation has become central to the realization of life chances, so a political programme of 'wealth taxes' may appear threatening. This paper asks: what does the prospect of increased wealth taxes mean to the middle classes? Combining a relational theory approach with a qualitative focus group study in the United Kingdom, the paper highlights two especially salient meanings of wealth taxes: (1) that wealth is considered as a form of security that one builds through surplus income earned through work (thereby conflating income and wealth); which can then be (2) used to sustain an intergenerational family through the relations of inheritance. Consequently, wealth taxes take on a meaning as a double tax that penalize hardworking families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As democracies around the world have faltered, legal scholars in fields as diverse as election law, labor law, and administrative law have turned to tax law to repair and support democratic governments. Taxation offers a toolset well-equipped to address concerns raised by democratic theorists focused on the conditions that shape a democratic community and help it to flourish. Tax laws can rectify social dynamics characterized by economic inequality and can help establish and strengthen civic institutions, among many possible interventions. But legal scholars evaluating and designing tax policies generally focus on the standard normative criteria of efficiency, equity, and administrability, with little specific regard for democratic concerns. This separation from democratic theory has left tax law scholars ill-equipped to respond to calls for help from more democracy-focused fields of law. Thus, tax scholarship mostly has not engaged with the increasingly important project of strengthening democratic governance. This Article argues that democracy should be a more central consideration in designing and evaluating tax laws in a democratic system of government, exploring a set of democracy criteria that can bolster the standard normative criteria used to evaluate tax policy. The democracy criteria considered here ask: Does a change in tax rules strengthen or undermine democratic governance? This Article draws on democratic theory to identify pressure points where taxation might shape democracy, building on work by tax scholars who have tried to integrate democratic values into the standard criteria. I make the case that democratic considerations should not be subordinated to other criteria, but rather should stand on their own. I apply the democracy criteria to wealth tax proposals, showing how a democratic perspective illuminates a contemporary debate in U.S. tax policy. Approached in this way, a democratic perspective on tax law and policy can facilitate tax responses--in scholarly discourse and in policy prescriptions--to current challenges facing democracies around the world, answering the calls of scholars in other fields who (appropriately) view tax rules as sites of important potential interventions to shore up democracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Ruch Prawniczy, Ekonomiczny i Socjologiczny (0035-9629) is the property of Adam Mickiewicz University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Financialization is a process within the global economy wherein financial markets have been gaining ground in recent years. And yet, whether it has a beneficial or detrimental impact is almost totally unstudied, notably in terms of market effects on the real estate sector. To probe more deeply into such a research issue, this study addresses how real estate's financialization impacts asset distribution by analyzing investment attitudes based on verifiable data from the Spanish wealth tax return. Despite scarce previous literature in the field, the study focused on the gender aspect to highlight the importance of investment decisions concerning risk aversion and related issues through the empirical analysis of the investment portfolios of those taxpayers subject to wealth tax statements. The findings identified show that financialization can lead to the conversion of property assets into stock-related movable assets, and from more to less imbalance, respectively, in terms of the gender gap. The results obtained show a significant gendered difference concerning investment stocks, being thus out of alignment with the gender equity traditionally promoted by the Spanish government. This suggests that although most investment portfolios of real estate properties are based strictly on criteria of profitability, female investors need to be empowered because they could provide a better approach to an economic issue wherein aversion to risk can become a proper criterion of private investors, even when there are sudden macroeconomic changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Citizens contribute to the economy by creating wealth for themselves and in the way they use their assets. How assets, especially capital assets, are employed attracts tax and this influences how assets are used. In South Africa, tax policy is one of the drivers in the decisions that individuals make regarding the use or disposal of their assets. Wealth taxes are levied to address income disparities and mostly affect capital assets when they change ownership. This study compares developed and developing countries’ tax policies that impact capital assets when they are transferred or disposed of. The financial impact from using one’s assets drives economic participation. Previous studies found that tax policy is influential in economic participation. A literature study was performed analysing wealth taxes, academic literature and legislation and incorporated a case study to illustrate the tax consequences of capital assets changing ownership in Namibia, South Africa, India and Australia. The study found that, compared to the other countries, South Africa taxes capital transfer both upon change of ownership by way of sale, donation and death of the owner. This study makes a novel contribution to the understanding of and development of improved and internationally comparable wealth tax legislation to address the wealth tax consequences of asset transactions in South Africa.

Celem artykułu jest prześledzenie najgłośniejszych w USA propozycji federalnego podatku od bogactwa (wealth tax), a także sporów dotyczących zgodności takiego podatku z amerykańską Konstytucją. Posługując się metodą historyczno-opisową oraz porównawczą, autor analizuje relewantną amerykańską literaturę przedmiotu oraz orzecznictwo Sądu Najwyższego USA, w tym liczne opinie na temat konstytucyjnej klauzuli o „podatkach bezpośrednich”, między innymi ojców założycieli. Jak wynika z przeprowadzonych badań, propozycje podatku od bogactwa, tj. od wartości netto majątku powyżej określonej wartości, są czymś względnie nowym w historii USA. Jak się wydaje, szczególnym tego powodem jest fakt mocno przyspieszonego od lat osiemdziesiątych wzrostu nierówności dochodowych – a co za tym idzie: majątkowych. Koncepcje podatku od bogactwa pojawiają się bowiem zarówno w środowiskach akademickich, jak i wśród polityków – co świadczy o dużej skali problemu nierówności. Zwolennicy podatku wskazują między innymi, że nadmierna koncentracja majątkowa i wynikające z niej nierówności są szkodliwe tak z punktu widzenia polityczno-prawnego, jak i ekonomicznego. Wokół propozycji podatku od bogactwa istnieje jednak wiele wątpliwości. Przede wszystkim w odniesieniu do tego, czy podatek od bogactwa wchodzi w zakres konstytucyjnej klauzuli o „podatkach bezpośrednich”, a zatem czy podlega konieczności „rozdzielenia” jego wysokości pomiędzy stany proporcjonalnie do liczby ich mieszkańców, co znacznie utrudniłoby przyjęcie takiego podatku, a być może wręcz uniemożliwiłoby.

This paper analyses the relative merits of wealth and capital income taxes as instruments for taxing the rich. The main rationale for a wealth tax is to address the incompleteness of the tax code in taxing unrealized capital gains, which can be enormous and concentrated among the wealthy. However, by taxing presumed rather than actual returns, a wealth tax fails to address inequality among taxpayers with the same wealth but different capital incomes. In addition, wealth taxation creates liquidity problems that may adversely affect growth firms and start-ups, which is why wealth taxes typically provide exemptions and deductions for certain business assets. Our empirical analysis, based on Swedish register data, describes the wealth composition of the wealthiest and assesses the distributional incidence of different combinations of wealth and capital income taxation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the challenges and potential policy choices for levying progressive taxes and taxing the rich in Latin America, a region known for its high-income inequality, limited tax-collection capacity, and low share of taxes collected from personal income and wealth. Factors such as high exemption thresholds, low top marginal tax rates, and limited administrative capacity undermine the redistributive ability and revenue collection of the tax systems in the region. Moreover, the income composition for the top percentiles largely comes from capital, and the effective tax rates they face are often low due to the preferential treatment of capital income and wealth. After discussing the evidence of how the rich in Latin America respond to progressive taxes on income and wealth and changes in enforcement policy, we provide some insights on potential policy choices to tax them effectively. These may include broadening the income tax base by lowering the number of exempt and non-taxable income items and the statutory exemption thresholds, reevaluating preferential tax rates on capital income, monitoring foreign income, addressing the abuse of tax treatment by business earners, and enhancing tax administration capacity. Additionally, wealth taxes may complement the tax system with updates to property registers and scrutiny of foreign assets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews recent developments in the theory and practice of optimal capital taxation. We emphasize three main rationales for capital taxation. First, the frontier between capital and labour income flows is often fuzzy, thereby lending support to a broad-based, comprehensive income tax. Next, the very notions of income and consumption flows are difficult to define and measure for top wealth holders where capital gains due to asset price effects dwarf ordinary income and consumption flows. Therefore the proper way to tax billionaires is a progressive wealth tax. Finally, as individuals cannot choose their parents, there are strong meritocratic reasons why we should tax inherited wealth more than earned income or self-made wealth for which individuals can be held responsible, at least in part. This implies that the ideal fiscal system should also include a progressive inheritance tax, in addition to progressive income and wealth taxes. We then confront our prescriptions with historical experience. Although there are significant differences, we argue that observed fiscal systems in modern democracies bear important similarities with this ideal triptych. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Like in many other countries, wealth inequality has increased in Switzerland over the last 50 years. By providing new evidence on cantonal top wealth shares for each of the 26 cantons since 1969, we show that the overall trend masks striking differences across cantons, both in levels and trends. Combining this with variation in cantonal wealth taxes, we then estimate an event study model to identify the dynamic effects of reforms to top wealth tax rates on the subsequent evolution of wealth concentration. Our results imply that a reduction in the top marginal wealth tax rate by 0.1 percentage points increases the top 1 per cent (0.1 per cent) wealth share by 0.9 (1.2) percentage points 5 years after the reform. This suggests that wealth tax cuts over the last 50 years explain roughly 18 per cent (25 per cent) of the increase in wealth concentration among the top 1 per cent (0.1 per cent). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To assess the constitutionality of an unapportioned federal wealth tax, and/or of a federal income tax provision reaching wealthy taxpayers' unrealized gains, one needs an underlying framework for making judgements about legal claims. While no such framework can be entirely specified, at least to general agreement, this does not support nihilistically rejecting all comparative judgements about better versus worse, or more versus less convincing, instances of legal analysis. While it appears nearly certain that the Supreme Court's current right-wing majority would strike down an unapportioned federal wealth tax, the 'correct' answer to this constitutional question cannot be proven to general agreement. I myself would disagree with such a holding by the Court. An important variable in resolving the issue for oneself is how much continuing precedential weight one should give to Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co. —a case that itself blatantly disrespected precedent, but that did so more than a century ago, and that (on the other hand) some argue has already ceased to be good law. The principle of respecting precedent both has instrumental value and has been long (if fitfully) honoured within the American legal system, but all agree that its weight is not absolute. An unapportioned minimum income tax on the wealthiest Americans that included in income their unrealized capital gains would likely be constitutional under currently prevalent legal doctrine. It is true, however, that Eisner v. Macomber (1920), if it were held to remain good law beyond its immediate facts, would support holding it unconstitutional. The prospect that the current Supreme Court's six right-wingers will decide to revive Macomber provides only one reason for suspecting that they might strike down such a provision, perhaps while also launching a broader constitutional war against central tenets of the current regime for taxing wealthy individuals and capital income. However, it lies beyond the power of conventional legal analysis to predict either what form such a war would take, or on what terms it might end up being resolved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The UK Wealth Tax Commission website and the I Fiscal Studies i symposium on the wealth tax provide a fantastic set of evidence papers on wealth tax design in theory and in practice, drawing on the experience of seven different countries. They conclude that the case for the one-off wealth tax is simple to make (because the opportunities for a one-off tax, implemented promptly, to distort economic activity are limited), but the case for an annual wealth tax is more difficult - though not impossible - to make based on economic theory (in part, because of the greater scope for economic distortions in response to a recurrent tax). While wealth taxes in the past had ceiling mechanisms, such that the wealth tax liability could not exceed a fraction of income, Zucman suggests that such mechanisms are not needed if the wealth tax is applied only above a very high exemption threshold. Keywords: personal income tax; corporate income tax; wealth tax; tax avoidance and evasion; automatic exchange of information; global minimum tax; high-net-worth individuals; inequality EN personal income tax corporate income tax wealth tax tax avoidance and evasion automatic exchange of information global minimum tax high-net-worth individuals inequality 237 241 5 09/26/23 20230901 NES 230901 In his paper "Globalisation, taxation and inequality" in this issue, Gabriel Zucman argues that the current tax system is not appropriate for our times. [Extracted from the article]

Today's tax systems, in which value‐added taxes and payroll taxes play a prominent role, are largely creations of the 1950s. We need to invent modern tax systems adapted to the reality of the 21st century: the growing importance of capital and the rise of inequality. This article reviews some of the challenges involved with increasing the progressivity of tax systems in a globalised world and discusses how these challenges could be overcome. I make the case for new and more ambitious forms of international cooperation and for modern forms of wealth taxation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the effect of individual wealth taxes on dividend policy. Using a comprehensive sample of European public firms from 26 countries, we document that wealth taxes paired with substantial increases in stock prices are associated with significantly larger dividend payouts. This pattern is stronger among closely held firms, family firms, and firms with shares directly owned by individuals. We also find evidence suggesting that the dividends induced by wealth taxes have meaningful economic consequences; the announcement of dividends with a higher probability of being induced by wealth taxes elicits lower stock returns, and such dividends are associated with lower levels of subsequent investment. Overall, our evidence contributes to the rekindled debate on wealth taxes by showing that this type of taxation affects corporate financial policies. JEL Classifications: G14; G20; G28; G30; K2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lockdowns were a morally and medically appropriate anti-contagion policy to stop the spread of Covid. However, lockdowns came with considerable costs. Specifically, lockdowns imposed harms and losses upon the young in order to benefit the elderly, who were at the highest risk of severe illness and death from Covid. This represented a shifting of the (epidemiological) burden of Covid for the elderly to a systemic burden of lockdown upon the young. This article argues that even if lockdowns were a morally permissible response to Covid, the harms and losses they imposed on the young ground a claim of compensation. I defend an intergenerational compensation argument that defends a claim for an egalitarian intergenerational transfer to compensate the young for the harms of lockdown. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past decade there have been repeated calls for the greater taxation of wealth. These calls have had little impact on policy. There has been a global trend to reduce or abolish taxes on wealth. The contrast suggests that it may be better now to explore how taxes on wealth may be made a reality rather than designing new tax proposals. What are the barriers to tax wealth? This paper addresses this by conducting a case study of a high profile plan for introducing a one-off wealth tax in the UK. It identifies a tyranny of the status quo, framing and the policy process as key barriers to tax reform. It uses thematic analysis to study how the plans for a one-off wealth tax were discussed in the media and the UK Parliament. This paper argues that there were important shortfalls in both the way the case for a wealth tax was framed as well as the engagement with the policy process. It claims that a stronger framing would have discussed wealth inequality in greater depth and there was a need for a less equivocal case to Parliamentarians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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