美国的增值税： 一种解决方案外文翻译.doc

本科毕业论文（设计） 外 文 翻 译 外文出处 Brookings Institution and Tax Policy Center 外文作者 William G. Gale，Benjamin H. Harris 原文： A Value-Added Tax for the United States: Part of the Solution Administrative Issues A broad-based VAT would cost less to administer than the current income tax. For example, in the United Kingdom, administrative costs of the VAT were less than half of those of the income tax, measured as a share of revenue. Similarly, the New Zealand revenue department was required to intervene in just 3 percent of VAT returns, compared to 25 percent of income tax returns (GAO 2008). The VAT has compliance advantages over a retail sales tax, which aims to collect all revenue at the point of sale from a business to a household. Since revenue collection for the VAT is spread across stages of production, with producers receiving a credit against taxes paid as an incentive for compliance, the VAT in practice is less likely to be evaded. Theory and evidence suggest that the compliance burden would likely fall more heavily – as a percentage of sales – on smaller businesses. Most countries address these concerns by exempting small businesses from collecting the VAT. In 2007, 24 out of the 29 OECD countries with a VAT exempted businesses with gross receipts beneath specified thresholds, varying from $2,159 to $93,558 (OECD 2008). Finally, it is worth noting that, to the extent that administrative costs are fixed with respect to the VAT standard rate, the presence of such costs suggest that the VAT should be set at a relatively higher rate rather than a lower one. The States Some analysts express concern that a national VAT would impinge on states’ ability to administer their own sales taxes. In our view, a national VAT could help states significantly. State retail sales taxes are poorly designed – they exempt many goods and most services and collect more than 40 percent of their revenue from taxing business purchases, which should be exempt. Converting