Publisher's Synopsis
Taxation is of crucial importance to politicians and political scientists. The question of how a government will raise its taxes – and how it will spend them – is a central political issue, which needs to be addressed in political terms.
This book discusses a series of key questions about tax policy and tax politics: Why do governments levy taxes? Which forms of tax can they use? What do governments spend tax revenue on? Why do governments run deficits? What political actions do people take concerning taxes? Can the tax system be reformed?
In this carefully structured and accessibly written text, Peters provides a much needed comparative introduction to the politics of taxation in the industrialized democracies, drawing on data from the OECD along with other sources.
