A report on Flat tax

Tax with a single rate on the taxable amount, after accounting for any deductions or exemptions from the tax base.

- Flat tax

16 related topics with Alpha

Overall

Total revenue from direct and indirect taxes given as share of GDP in 2017

Tax

5 links

Compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer by a governmental organization in order to fund government spending and various public expenditures (regional, local, or national), and tax compliance refers to policy actions and individual behaviour aimed at ensuring that taxpayers are paying the right amount of tax at the right time and securing the correct tax allowances and tax reliefs.

Compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer by a governmental organization in order to fund government spending and various public expenditures (regional, local, or national), and tax compliance refers to policy actions and individual behaviour aimed at ensuring that taxpayers are paying the right amount of tax at the right time and securing the correct tax allowances and tax reliefs.

Total revenue from direct and indirect taxes given as share of GDP in 2017
Pieter Brueghel the Younger, The tax collector's office, 1640
Substitution effect and income effect with a taxation on y good.
Budget's constraint shift after an introduction of a lump sum tax or a general tax on consumption or a proportional income tax.
The Laffer curve. In this case, the critical point is at a tax rate of 70%. Revenue increases until this peak, then it starts decreasing.
General government revenue, in % of GDP, from social contributions. For this data, the variance of GDP per capita with purchasing power parity (PPP) is explained in 20% by social contributions revenue.
Egyptian peasants seized for non-payment of taxes. (Pyramid Age)
Public finance revenue from taxes in % of GDP. For this data, the variance of GDP per capita with purchasing power parity (PPP) is explained in 32% by tax revenue.
Diagram illustrating deadweight costs of taxes

Some levy a flat percentage rate of taxation on personal annual income, but most scale taxes are progressive based on brackets of annual income amounts.

Proportional tax

3 links

Tax imposed so that the tax rate is fixed, with no change as the taxable base amount increases or decreases.

Tax imposed so that the tax rate is fixed, with no change as the taxable base amount increases or decreases.

Flat taxes are defined as levying a fixed (“flat”) fraction of taxable income.

Average tax rates by income groups in France, the United Kingdom, and the United States, 1970 (left) and 2005 (right). Taxes were more progressive in 1970 than in 2005.

Progressive tax

3 links

Tax in which the tax rate increases as the taxable amount increases.

Tax in which the tax rate increases as the taxable amount increases.

Average tax rates by income groups in France, the United Kingdom, and the United States, 1970 (left) and 2005 (right). Taxes were more progressive in 1970 than in 2005.
A caricature of William Pitt the Younger collecting the newly introduced income tax.
German marginal and average income tax rates display a progressive structure.
"Tax The Rich" banner at an International Union of Socialist Youth campaign for a financial transaction tax.
The function which defines the progressive approach to an income tax, may be mathematically defined as a piecewise function. In every piece (tax bracket), it must be computed cumulatively, considering the taxes which had already been computed to the previous tax brackets. Pictured is the effective income tax for Portugal in 2012 and 2013.
Distribution of US federal taxes from 1979 to 2013, based on CBO Estimates.

The act was signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln, and replaced the Revenue Act of 1861, which had imposed a flat income tax of 3% on incomes above $800.

200px

Tax rate

3 links

Ratio at which a business or person is taxed.

Ratio at which a business or person is taxed.

200px

With a flat tax, by comparison, all income is taxed at the same percentage, regardless of amount.

Consumption tax

2 links

Tax levied on consumption spending on goods and services.

Tax levied on consumption spending on goods and services.

A direct consumption tax may be called an expenditure tax, a cash-flow tax, or a consumed-income tax and can be flat or progressive.

Map of countries and territories by their VAT status

Value-added tax

2 links

Type of tax that is assessed incrementally.

Type of tax that is assessed incrementally.

Map of countries and territories by their VAT status
A Belgian VAT receipt
Without any tax
With a 10% sales tax
With a 10% VAT
A supply-demand analysis of a taxed market
Standard VAT or sales tax rate
General government revenue, in % of GDP, from VAT. For this data, the variance of GDP per capita with purchasing power parity (PPP) is explained in 3% by tax revenue.
EU VAT Tax Rates
4 May 2010 "Campaña no más IVA" in Spain
National VAT act as a tariff on imports and their exports are exempt from VAT (zero-rated).

A VAT is usually a flat tax.

Top marginal tax rate of the income tax (i.e. the maximum rate of taxation applied to the highest part of income)

Income tax

2 links

Tax imposed on individuals or entities in respect of the income or profits earned by them (commonly called taxable income).

Tax imposed on individuals or entities in respect of the income or profits earned by them (commonly called taxable income).

Top marginal tax rate of the income tax (i.e. the maximum rate of taxation applied to the highest part of income)
William Pitt the Younger introduced a progressive income tax in 1798.
Punch cartoon (1907); illustrates the unpopularity amongst Punch readers of a proposed 1907 income tax by the Labour Party in the United Kingdom.
General government revenue, in % of GDP, from personal income taxes. For this data, the variance of GDP per capita with purchasing power parity (PPP) is explained in 27 % by tax revenue
Systems of taxation on personal income
Payroll and income tax by OECD Country

The tax systems vary greatly and can be progressive, proportional, or regressive, depending on the type of tax.

Robert Hall (economist)

1 links

American economist and a Robert and Carole McNeil Senior Fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution.

American economist and a Robert and Carole McNeil Senior Fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution.

Hall is perhaps most famous for co-originating the flat tax with Alvin Rabushka. They co-authored a book with the same name. The two often act as advisors to countries in Eastern Europe that wish to adopt the flat tax.

Capitalism and Freedom

1 links

Book by Milton Friedman originally published in 1962 by the University of Chicago Press which discusses the role of economic capitalism in liberal society.

Book by Milton Friedman originally published in 1962 by the University of Chicago Press which discusses the role of economic capitalism in liberal society.

Friedman examines the progressive income tax, introduced in order to redistribute income to make things more fair, and finds that, in fact, the rich take advantage of numerous loopholes, nullifying the redistributive effects. It would be far more fair just to have a uniform flat tax with no deductions, which could meet the 1962 tax revenues with a rate only slightly greater than the lowest tax bracket at that time.

Friedman in 2004

Milton Friedman

1 links

American economist and statistician who received the 1976 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his research on consumption analysis, monetary history and theory and the complexity of stabilization policy.

American economist and statistician who received the 1976 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his research on consumption analysis, monetary history and theory and the complexity of stabilization policy.

Friedman in 2004
Jenő Saul Friedman, Milton Friedman's father
Milton Friedman and future wife Rose Friedman in 1935
The NBER, where Friedman worked, starting in 1937
The University of Chicago, where Friedman taught
A model of the Permanent Income Hypothesis
Milton Friedman with his wife Rose
Long-Run Phillips Curve (NAIRU)
Former Chair of the Federal Reserve, Paul Volcker
Friedman with Richard Nixon and George Shultz in 1971
Friedman receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Ronald Reagan in 1988
Friedman in 1976
Friedman and Hayek in Hong Kong at the annual Mont Pelerin meeting in 1978
Milton Friedman receiving his Nobel Prize

A prime element of Laar's program was introduction of the flat tax.