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The Political Economy of Taxation in Latin America
Cambridge University Press, 6/27/2019
EAN 9781108474573, ISBN10: 1108474578
Hardcover, 282 pages, 23.5 x 15.6 x 2 cm
Language: English
Paying taxes is one of the least popular activities worldwide. Latin America in particular is notorious for having low direct taxes, weak compliance and enforcement, and high levels of inequality. Although fiscal extraction has gained renewed interest among governments in recent years, with the end of the commodity boom adding special urgency, the successful adoption and implementation of tax reforms is easier said than done, even when tax policy prescriptions are widely shared. This volume provides the first comprehensive, region-wide assessment of the role of political factors, including public opinion, democratic institutions, natural resources, interest groups, political ideology, and state capacity. What explains the region's low levels of taxation? What explains the low progressivity in its tax structure? And what explains considerable differences across countries? In addressing these questions, each of the volume's chapters makes original theoretical and empirical contributions toward understanding how to overcome the political challenges to taxation.
1. Introduction
the political economy of taxation in Latin America Gustavo Flores-MacÃÂas
2. The political economy of oil taxation in Latin America
policy volatility and untapped potential Francisco Monaldi
3. Economic growth and tax compliance in Latin America Marcelo Bergman
4. Path dependence, power resources, and the magnitude of the tax burden in Latin America Gabriel Ondetti
5. Federalism and taxation
patterns of international insertion in Brazil Aaron Schneider
6. Do particularistic institutions affect tax neutrality in Latin America? Mark Hallerberg and Carlos Scartascini
7. Taxing Latin American economic elites Tasha Fairfield
8. Weak liberalism and weak property taxation in Latin America James Mahon, Jr
9. Preferences for redistribution and tax burdens Juan Bogliaccini and Juan Pablo Luna
10. Conclusion
addressing taxation's political challenges Gustavo Flores-MacÃÂas.