Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-xbtfd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-09T22:18:21.429Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

1 - Introduction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2015

Alan Schenk
Affiliation:
Wayne State University School of Law
Victor Thuronyi
Affiliation:
Duke University School of Law
Wei Cui
Affiliation:
University of British Columbia, Vancouver
Get access

Summary

Scope of Book

The value added tax (VAT) has spread around the world more quickly than any other new tax in modern history. This book covers value added tax and, in some parts, other consumption taxes in use or proposed in developing and developed countries.

Tax on consumption generally refers to a tax on final consumption, consisting mainly of goods and services acquired by individuals for their personal use or satisfaction. It generally does not include business inputs (goods and services used by business in the production or distribution of goods or in the rendition of services).

It is difficult for a business to operate internationally without considering the implications of sales tax or value added tax, whether or not the company’s country of residence has a broad-based tax on consumption. For example, the United States does not have a sales tax or value added tax, except at the state and local levels of government. Nevertheless, a U.S. business operating in, shipping goods or transferring intellectual property or providing or receiving services to and from other countries must consider the VAT implications of exports to or imports from those countries.

This book explores value added and other consumption tax principles from a comparative perspective. We hope that this study may lead to suggestions for improving existing VAT systems and designing new ones. We discuss VAT in the Member States of the European Union (EU), and explain major departures from the EU model in non-European countries (especially in New Zealand, China, Japan, and South Africa).

Type
Chapter
Information
Value Added Tax
A Comparative Approach
, pp. 1 - 19
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2015

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Webber, C. & Wildavsky, A., A History of Taxation and Expenditure in the Western World 44 (Simon & Schuster 1986)
Owens, J., “The Move to VAT,” 2 Intertax45 (1996)Google Scholar
Sullivan, C., The Tax on Value Added 12 (Columbia University Press 1965)
Colm, Gerhard, “Methods of Financing Unemployment Compensation,” II Social Research 161 (May, 1935)Google Scholar
Adams, T., “Fundamental Problems of Federal Income Taxation,” XXV Quarterly Journal of Economics 553 (1921)Google Scholar
Thuronyi, V., Comparative Tax Law, 54–55 (Kluwer 2003)
Walker, David, “The Direct-Indirect Tax Problem: Fifteen Years of Controversy,” 10 Public Finance153, 154 (1955)Google Scholar
Brooks, N., The Canadian Goods and Services Tax: History, Policy, and Politics141 (Australian Tax Foundation 1993)
Hobbes, T., Leviathan 184 (Dutton ed. 1914)
Fried, B., “Fairness and the Consumption Tax,” 44 Stanford Law Review961 (1992)Google Scholar
Galbraith, John Kenneth, The Affluent Society 238 (4th ed. Houghton Mifflin Co. 1984)
Bird, R. & Oldman, O., eds., Taxation in Developing Countries 368 (4th ed. Johns Hopkins University Press 1990)
Whalley, J. & Kononova, V., “Recent Russian Debate on Moving from VAT to Sales Taxes and Its Global Implications,” 1 Journal of Globalization and Development vol. 2, pp. 1–27 (2010)Google Scholar
Schenk, A., “Policy Issues in the Design of a Value-Added Tax: Some Recent Developments in OECD Countries,” 1 Tax Notes Int’l 111, 124–125 (July 1989)Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×