The Austrian Tax System – Perspectives for Reform

Angela Köppl and Margit Schratzenstaller

WIFO Bulletin, 2015, vol. 20, issue 6, 72-79

Abstract: A key objective of a reform of the Austrian tax system should be the improvement of the tax structure. This includes a shift in the revenue composition away from certain tax bases (exoneration) towards other bases, implying their higher taxation. The latter should serve not only short-term counter-financing purposes to compensate revenue losses elsewhere. The guiding principle of forward-looking tax policy should rather be, starting from a long-term vision of a "tax system 2025", to re-allocate in a series of steps the entire tax burden. The essence of such reform should be a relief of the high tax burden on labour, in particular for small and medium-size earnings, to be offset by hikes in environmental and certain property-based taxes, within the framework of a comprehensive socio-ecological reform design, supplemented by the abolition of tax exemptions notably in income tax and VAT. Independently from the issue of the tax structure, the overall tax burden can be lowered all the more, the more savings on the expenditure side can be achieved in parallel with the reduction in labour taxes.

Keywords: Tax system; assessed income tax; environmental taxes; payroll taxes; tax exemptions; tax structure; wage tax; wealth taxes (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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