Review by Choice Review
This volume, edited by Jorgenson and Landau, compares taxation of income from capital across nine industrialized economies--Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Sweden, the UK, and the US. Although different economists prepared each national chapter, all comparisons use the cost of capital concept pioneered by Jorgenson and apply the same marginal effective tax-rate estimating approach. Each chapter also provides a brief sketch of salient features of each central government tax system as they apply to capital income, with special attention to changes in the 1980-90 period, an era in which tax reform in many countries, including the US, generally sought more equalized marginal effective tax rates to improve the efficiency of the allocation of capital. Specifically, the chapters estimate marginal effective tax rates for different categories of capital income for 1980, 1985, and 1990. Differences among rates indicate barriers to efficient allocation of capital with economic loss and violation of horizontal equity. The evidence shows significant reduction in differences among assets, industries, or both in all countries but Italy; rates remain far from equal everywhere, however. Graduate; faculty. J. L. Mikesell Indiana University-Bloomington
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
