Wisconsin State Journal

Daily Kos, 2021

10:27am CST by alanbenesi, Community 15 4 Unfair taxation is one of my pet peeves. The present system of personal and corporate income, sales, excise, capital gains, import and export duties, gift and estate taxes is complicated and subject to evasion. Human nature being what it is the wealthy and large businesses have used their money and power to obtain tax breaks and loopholes. They also have tax lawyers and accountants to assist in minimizing their taxes. In 1989 Professor Edgar Feige of the University of Wisconsin proposed replacing the present tax system with the Automated Payment Transactions (APT) tax

This paper proposes a 21st century global fiscal architecture to replace the present system of personal and corporate income, sales, excise, capital gains, import and export duties, gift and estate taxes with a single comprehensive revenue neutral Automated Payment Transaction (APT) tax. In its simplest form, the APT tax consists of a flat tax levied on all transactions. The tax is automatically assessed and collected when transactions are settled through the electronic technology of the banking/ payments system. The APT tax introduces progressivity through the tax base rather than via the rate structure. Since roughly 85% of all transactions involve the exchange of financial instruments, it is the wealthy who carry out a disproportionate share of total transactions and therefore bear a disproportionate burden of the tax despite its flat rate structure. The automated recording of all APT tax payments by firms and individuals creates a degree of transparency and perceived fairness that induces greater tax compliance. Also, the tax has lower administrative and compliance cost. Like all taxes, the APT tax creates new distortions whose costs must be weighted against the benefits obtained by replacing the current tax system.

“Taxation for the 21st Century: The Automated Payment Transaction (APT) Tax” Economic Policy, , 2000

This paper examines the desirability and feasibility of replacing the present system of personal and corporate income, sales, excise, capital gains, import and export duties, gift and estate taxes with a single comprehensive revenue neutral Automated Payment Transaction (APT) tax. In its simplest form, the APT tax consists of a flat tax levied on all transactions. The tax is automatically assessed and collected when transactions are settled through the electronic technology of the banking/ payments system. The APT tax introduces progressivity through the tax base since the volume of final payments includes exchanges of titles to property and is therefore more highly skewed than the conventional income or consumption tax base. The wealthy carry out a disproportionate share of total transactions and therefore bear a disproportionate burden of the tax despite its flat rate structure. The automated recording of all APT tax payments by firms and individuals creates a degree of transparency and perceived fairness that induces greater tax compliance. Also, the tax has lower administrative and compliance cost. Like all taxes, the APT tax creates new distortions whose costs must be weighted against the benefits obtained by replacing the current tax system

Economic policy, 2000

National Tax Journal, 2016

We explore issues related to a financial transaction tax (FTT) in the United States. We trace the history and current practice of the tax in the United States and other countries, review evidence of its impact on financial markets, and explore the key design issues any such tax must address. We present new revenue and distributional effects of a hypothetical relatively broad-based FTT in the United States, finding that, at a base rate of 0.34 percent, it could raise a maximum of about 0.4 percent of GDP ($75 billion in 2017) in a highly progressive manner.

Intereconomics, 2012

We argue in this Forum contribution that a fi nancial transaction tax (FTT) complements fi nancial market regulation. With the tax, governments have an additional instrument at hand to infl uence trading activity. The FTT aims to reduce regulatory arbitrage, fl ash trades, overactive portfolio management, excessive leverage and speculative transactions of fi nancial institutions -activities that have contributed to the fi nancial crisis. However, if, contrary to expectations, harmful transactions are not curbed, the FFT will at least generate large tax revenues that can contribute to covering the costs of the fi nancial crisis. Attempts at tax avoidance are, of course, inevitable, and therefore the effect of the tax should be monitored closely so that governments can react quickly if tax loopholes and tax-induced geographical relocation plans of fi nancial institutions come to light.

2011

In reaction to the recent financial crisis, increased attention has recently been given to financial transaction taxes (FTTs) as a means of (1) raising revenue for a variety of possible purposes and/or (2) helping to curb financial market excesses. This paper reviews existing theory and evidence on the efficacy of an FTT in fulfilling those tasks, on its potential impact, and on key issues to be faced in designing taxes of this kind.

Financial Analysts Journal, 2014

The Financial Economists Roundtable is a self-appointing international organization of 50 highly accomplished financial economists over the age of 50 who meet annually to discuss issues of current public policy importance. The mission of the Roundtable appears at www.financialeconomistsroundtable.com along with a list of the current members. Those members who are signatories to this statement are listed on the last page. 2. See OECD (2010) for a review, and IMF (2017) for further motivations on the need for pro-growth tax reform. 19. Introducing a VAT and changing the overall mix of taxes could help as well, but requires a fundamental tax reform. See Avi-Yonah and Clausing (2017).