Scandinavian tax systems, in particular, are close to the spirit of the Ramsey rule.
All of this makes the taxman's job harder, particularly in countries with worldwide tax systems.
Most income-tax systems are already progressive, and who could disagree with a simpler system?
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Charging for ownership rather than use, as most tax systems do, makes little sense.
This tax revenue pattern was replicated in many states whose tax systems peg off the federal system.
Where they go varies, but many countries are an easier sell in both tax rates and tax systems.
However, the French tax system is, indeed all of the EU tax systems individually are, based upon residence.
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These countries have generally replaced their income tax systems, but have kept what amounts to relatively high payroll taxes.
But their economic costs are held down by the perhaps surprisingly efficient tax systems with which they are financed.
The economists also worry that many tax systems, including Britain's, do not provide enough incentives for people to work.
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All European Union tax systems work this way: yea, even that of France.
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The tax take in Latin America is still low and tax systems are often regressive compared to those in Europe.
This is unfortunate because the United States has one of the most punitive corporate tax systems in the developed world.
Politicians can choose to maintain uncompetitive tax systems, of course, but they also should be prepared to accept the consequences.
Apart from addressing the more obvious aspects of the online battleground, this would simplify state and local sales tax systems.
This is happening in Greece and Spain today, not surprisingly in places where the tax systems have become comically oppressive.
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The Court held that 45 state and 7, 600 local sales tax systems were too complicated for a retailer to follow.
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All the same, the states' fiscal pinch exposes the structure of their tax systems for the ugly mess it is.
There are tax systems where there is no tax on dividends at all: a higher corporate tax rate being used instead.
As the need to raise tax revenue diminishes, the tax systems and tax rates themselves can become simpler and less burdensome.
Through this ability to exit we then get competition between tax systems and this was the point of it all along.
Only Jersey, Hong Kong and Guernsey had identifiable flat tax systems, plus a few other places like Singapore with similar tax regimes.
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The reforms "should tackle weaknesses in product market regulation, labour market institutions, tax systems, and strengthen the single market, " the body said.
Mr Brown has simplified some things for example, by aligning the national insurance and income-tax systems for the low-paid but has made others more complex.
Note what is being said here: that the US tax system is more progressive than the tax systems of most other OECD countries.
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More generally, the report says tax systems should not differentiate between income earned in different ways between working for someone else, say, and self-employment.
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Formula apportionment is attractive to governments that have punitive tax regimes, and it would be a blow to nations with more sensible low-tax systems.
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But differences in national tax systems, for example over the portability and taxability of pensions, could be construed as an impediment to labour mobility.
That's because their tax systems are "coupled" to the federal one.
Yet as time passes, flat-rate tax systems may become increasingly entrenched.
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