The Considerations for Uniform Taxation

The paper "The Uneasy Case for Uniform Taxation" examines uniform taxation in the context of tax reform. It considers that an optimal tax system should impose rules that vary by type of income and taxpayer.

According to fairness, everyone pays the same amount of taxes and tax burden allocation should be based on income. According to efficiency, taxation should minimize economic distortions and correct market inefficiencies.

The merits of selective taxation are i) new economic and political theories ii) improve the ability of the taxing authorities to collect and enforce taxes iii) address the detrimental effects of the increasing international flows of capital which severely undermine the validity of a uniform tax system.

"Merely making the tax system more uniform may not improve fairness and efficiency".

It is important to be aware that all taxes cause economic distortion and all have equity consequences. We should not substitute slogans for an analysis of the costs and benefits of specific tax proposals. Although good reasons often support uniform taxation, circumstances likely exist where it is appropriate to differentiate among types of income and types of taxpayers.

According to the "The Case Against Worldwide Taxation", uniform taxation proposed by Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) harms competition since poor countries could no longer use tax exemptions to attract business. It will cost them more with subsidies to convince retailers to invest and will make greater the disadvantage for marginal areas and endangers sovereignty by introducing international bureaucracy.

Uniform tax is "not uniform" in its effects. The case study of "Bradley-Burns Uniform" states these effects.

According to "no Internet Tax" uniform taxation reduces competition between tax rates among local authorities and limits the control that tax authorities have over establishing and defining their own tax rates.

https://litigation-essentials.lexisnexis.com/webcd/app?action=DocumentDisplay&crawlid=1&doctype=cite&docid=16+Va.+Tax+Rev.+39&srctype=smi&srcid=3B15&key=b9bfb06a180090016564e4b432329dc4

http://www.limitedgovernment.org/publications/pubs/briefs/pdfs/brf7-38.PDF

http://www.nointernettax.org/default.asp?Page=Myths