Reports

France is the poster child for rule by the bureaucracy. It has become so powerful and entrenched, that even attempts to rein it in have ended up enlarging it and giving it more power. Now, the Covid-19 crisis has revealed some major faults, offering an opportunity for serious readjustment. But ...

The Covid-induced economic crisis has led policymakers to put in place large fiscal rescue packages including new spending, tax cuts and subsidies. Governments will now be tempted to spend more to boost the recovery. Soon, however, countries will have to pay for the debts they have rung up. Those that ...

Governments first failed to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. When they finally realized the scope of the challenge, most resorted to misguided, self-serving and often disastrous policy responses. Their push for centralization and control of economies, companies and ultimately, individuals, bodes ill for the future.

When it was first founded, the OECD’s mission was to support economic growth. It promoted free trade, low taxes and economic freedom. But over the last three decades, it has strayed from its original goals. It now focuses on expanding the reach of its member governments, especially when it comes ...

French President Emmanuel Macron’s call for more “solidarity” among eurozone states may have a nice ring in today’s harsh pandemic times. It is, however, a disguised attempt to make the enterprising and frugal European states pick up the tab for the irresponsible ones. Instead of a “transfer union,” France and ...

Over the past decade, Germany has worked hard to keep its public finances sound, lowering its debt levels and recording budget surpluses. Though the coronavirus crisis will undoubtedly change that state of affairs, the country's previous fiscal responsibility gives it more room to maneuver than most of its peers. The ...

Inequality, social injustice, economic downturns – lately the blame for such phenomena is laid at the feet of capitalism. Increasingly, and especially among the younger generation, socialism is touted as the cure for all these ills. Yet over and over, history has taught us that government meddling in the economy ...

Leaving the high-cost, bureaucratized European Union is not enough for the UK to unleash its entrepreneur potential, boost its share in global trade and return to high growth. To bring benefits, Brexit would need to be followed by bold liberal reforms: cutting taxes, rolling back government spending and reducing excessive, ...

Governments’ tendency to overtax the economy, overregulate it and misallocate resources by subsidizing losers, has been hurting economic growth, innovation and competitiveness in many parts of the world, including Europe. Now, officials are discussing novel ways to introduce such disastrous practices on the global level. Their excuse is an alleged ...

Japan is looking for ways to reduce its public debt, currently worth more than 200 percent of its GDP. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has managed to raise the consumption tax, but the government’s budget for this year still relies on social programs to alleviate demographic limitations and convince consumers to ...

A global asset registry (GAR) project aims to pinpoint the true owners – past, present and future – of all types of wealth now shielded from tax officials in safe havens across the globe. The project appears to be technically feasible. It is pursued by a group of tax specialists ...

Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) has become a popular philosophy among those who would have the government spend more. Traditional economics holds that MMT would lead to inflation, yet its proponents argue that the orthodoxy no longer applies. Though attractive for many across the political spectrum, it stems from some basic ...

An ongoing international effort to rewrite the global tax rules for the digital economy would be a dramatic shift with potentially damaging consequences. Fear of countries unilaterally levying their own digital taxes has led to an alternative at the OECD, motivated by both fiscal and political factors. The new proposal would ...

Germany is struggling to achieve its current environmental goals. A new policy package under consideration now is unlikely to provide a clear path forward. The taxes and subsidies it foresees contradict each other and could ultimately impede technological advancement. The proposal has proven disappointing to climate activists and economic critics ...

European Commission President-elect Ursula von der Leyen has made it clear that she intends to create a level playing field for EU airlines. However, the legislative package currently being discussed contains measures that would have the opposite effect. Taxes on kerosene could hobble EU aviation companies by putting them at ...

Ballooning modern governments collect an increasing proportion of their countries’ output in taxes, which spreads inefficiency and economic stagnation. The drivers of this process can be neutralized, and the economy-distorting impact of taxation mitigated, with better tax-system design. Among OECD member states, there are examples of sound solutions to emulate.

Latin America’s diverse economies are facing a series of common problems in 2019. After a years-long commodities boom, countries that failed to prepare for the current downturn in prices now deal with a loss of revenues and foreign investment. Corruption and quality of life issues have presented other challenges, and ...

Namibia has been hailed as a success story of democratic transition in Africa, enjoying relative stability and economic growth for years. But after general elections this November, the country may face a turning point. Growth has stagnated, and political polarization has weakened the ruling SWAPO party. Even if he holds ...

Political elites around the world are calling for higher taxes, as well as more centralized, unified systems to ensure as much as possible is collected. Yet populations are increasingly raising the alarm about overly complex or onerous taxes. For years, GIS experts have explained why moves toward higher tax burdens ...

France used to be one of the European Union’s “twin engines” along with Germany. These days, this once-proud civilization is considered more of a problem than a solution for the European project. Its economy is ailing under excessive government spending and overregulation, its enterprises are stifled by a rigid system ...

The U.S. remains one of just a few countries that claim taxing rights on labor income earned abroad. Doing so has likely not raised net revenue, and the price tag for implementation and compliance outstrips even the rosiest revenue projections. Maintaining the system is detrimental to the U.S. economy and ...

There is a growing myth that the rich are not paying their fair share in taxes and that the middle class is therefore overtaxed. This is not the case. High-income taxpayers across the OECD pay more than their share of the national income. The blame for heavy tax burdens in ...

Another year, another missed opportunity for fiscal reform in France. Like his predecessors, President Emmanuel Macron has ended up mostly raising taxes instead of decreasing the size of government and reducing expenditures. The “national dialogue” to come following the Yellow Vest protests could bring better democratic representation – and with ...

With the Yellow Vest protests, France has finally fractured between its metropolitan areas and a resentful low-wage periphery. What started as a tax revolt has become a diffuse and unstructured uprising against an unaccountable ruling caste. Many of the movement’s demands would only perpetuate France’s administrative and social centralism, yet ...