IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ces/ceswps/_8279.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Modernizing the European VAT

Author

Listed:
  • Sijbren Cnossen

Abstract

The harmonized European value-added tax (VAT) is anything but a modern consumption tax that taxes all goods and services at a uniform rate. As exemplified by an analysis of the Dutch version, some 60% of the base is exempted, that is, not taxed on output but on inputs. This has serious consequences. The VAT exemptions distort input choices, stimulate uneconomical self-supply, and complicate administration and compliance. The welfare costs of the exemptions can be estimated at one half of one percent of gross domestic product (GDP). Research shows that under an equal yield assumption, the elimination of the exemptions and the introduction of a single rate in conjunction with a reduction in the standard rate should foster economic growth. The Member States of the European Union (EU) should be allowed to replace their defective VATs with a modern version. This would strengthen competitive conditions.

Suggested Citation

  • Sijbren Cnossen, 2020. "Modernizing the European VAT," CESifo Working Paper Series 8279, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_8279
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cesifo.org/DocDL/cesifo1_wp8279.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sijbren Cnossen, 2011. "A Proposal to Improve the VAT Treatment of Housing in the European Union," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 32(4), pages 455-481, December.
    2. Santiago Acosta-Ormaechea & Atsuyoshi Morozumi, 2019. "The value added tax and growth: Design matters," Discussion Papers 2019/04, University of Nottingham, Centre for Finance, Credit and Macroeconomics (CFCM).
    3. Leon Bettendorf & Sijbren Cnossen, 2015. "The Long Shadow of the European VAT, Exemplified by the Dutch Experience," FinanzArchiv: Public Finance Analysis, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 71(1), pages 118-139, March.
    4. Keen, Michael & Mintz, Jack, 2004. "The optimal threshold for a value-added tax," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(3-4), pages 559-576, March.
    5. Sijbren Cnossen, 2013. "A proposal to apply the Kiwi-VAT to insurance services in the European Union," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 20(5), pages 867-883, October.
    6. Sijbren Cnossen, 2018. "VAT and agriculture: lessons from Europe," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 25(2), pages 519-551, April.
    7. Institute for Fiscal Studies, 2011. "A retrospective evaluation of elements of the EU VAT system," Taxation Studies 0039, Directorate General Taxation and Customs Union, European Commission.
    8. Copenhagen Economics, 2013. "VAT in the Public Sector and Exemptions in the Public Interest," Taxation Studies 0045, Directorate General Taxation and Customs Union, European Commission.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mahfoudh Hussein Mgammal & Ebrahim Mohammed Al-Matari & Talal Fawzi Alruwaili, 2023. "Value-added-tax rate increases: A comparative study using difference-in-difference with an ARIMA modeling approach," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-17, December.
    2. Santiago Acosta-Ormaechea & Atsuyoshi Morozumi, 2021. "The value-added tax and growth: design matters," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 28(5), pages 1211-1241, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sijbren Cnossen, 2022. "The C-inefficiency of the EU-VAT and what can be done about it," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 29(1), pages 215-236, February.
    2. Leon Bettendorf & Sijbren Cnossen, 2014. "The Long Arm of the European VAT, Exemplified by the Dutch Experience," CESifo Working Paper Series 4730, CESifo.
    3. Zareh Asatryan & David Gomtsyan, 2020. "The Incidence of VAT Evasion," CESifo Working Paper Series 8666, CESifo.
    4. Santiago Acosta-Ormaechea & Atsuyoshi Morozumi, 2021. "The value-added tax and growth: design matters," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 28(5), pages 1211-1241, October.
    5. Sijbren Cnossen, 2017. "VAT and Agriculture: Lessons from Europe," CPB Discussion Paper 341, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    6. Felici Francesco & Maria Gesualdo, 2014. "Fiscal extension to ORANI-IT: a computable general equilibrium model for Italy," Working Papers 8, Department of the Treasury, Ministry of the Economy and of Finance.
    7. Sijbren Cnossen, 2017. "VAT and Agriculture: Lessons from Europe," CESifo Working Paper Series 6350, CESifo.
    8. Sijbren Cnossen, 2017. "VAT and Agriculture: Lessons from Europe," CPB Discussion Paper 341.rdf, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    9. Sijbren Cnossen, 2018. "VAT and agriculture: lessons from Europe," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 25(2), pages 519-551, April.
    10. Alari PaulusBy & Francesco Figari & Holly Sutherland, 2017. "The design of fiscal consolidation measures in the European Union: distributional effects and implications for macro-economic recovery," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 69(3), pages 632-654.
    11. Sijbren Cnossen, 2015. "Mobilizing VAT revenues in African countries," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 22(6), pages 1077-1108, December.
    12. Liu, Li & Lockwood, Ben & Tam. Eddy, 2022. "Small Firm Growth and the VAT Threshold : Evidence for the UK," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 1418, University of Warwick, Department of Economics.
    13. Carlos Silvani, 2010. "The VAT in Common Markets: Lessons from Central America," Chapters, in: Ehtisham Ahmad & Abdulrazak Al Faris (ed.), Fiscal Reforms in the Middle East, chapter 6, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    14. Hélène Ehrhart, 2011. "Assessing the relationship between democracy and domestic taxes in developing countries," CERDI Working papers halshs-00553607, HAL.
    15. Casey Mulligan, 2015. "Fiscal policies and the prices of labor: a comparison of the U.K. and U.S," IZA Journal of Labor Policy, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 4(1), pages 1-27, December.
    16. Auriol, Emmanuelle & Warlters, Michael, 2012. "The marginal cost of public funds and tax reform in Africa," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(1), pages 58-72.
    17. Silvia Fedeli & Francesco Forte, 2011. "EU VAT frauds," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 31(2), pages 143-166, April.
    18. Arbex, Marcelo Aarestru & Mattos, Enlinson, 2020. "Limited tax capacity and the optimal taxation of firms," Textos para discussão 539, FGV EESP - Escola de Economia de São Paulo, Fundação Getulio Vargas (Brazil).
    19. Li Liu & Benjamin Lockwood, 2015. "VAT Notches," CESifo Working Paper Series 5371, CESifo.
    20. Bachas, Pierre & Gadenne, Lucie & Jensen, Anders, 2020. "Informality, Consumption Taxes and Redistribution," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 1277, University of Warwick, Department of Economics.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    VAT; European Union; exemptions; tax reform; C-efficiency;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H25 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Business Taxes and Subsidies
    • H70 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - General

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_8279. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Klaus Wohlrabe (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cesifde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.