How can we foster more female labour market participation in Switzerland? And how can income taxation contribute to this? In order to answer these questions, Austria’s income tax system with its child allowances and deductions will be looked at closer to understand, to what extent this can be applied to Switzerland. Thereby, it will be discussed how Switzerland currently manages its income taxation of married couples and what kind of child allowances and deductions are currently in place.
A Micro Tax or an Automated Transaction Payment Tax is a radical change going from a larger and more complicated tax system to a system with a single comprehensive revenue neutral Automated tax, replacing the present system of personal and corporate income taxing. In this podcast, we aim to look at what it is, similar taxes that have already been introduced, political movements and the pros/cons of introducing this tax.
The tampon tax has become an on-going discussing topic. Support to repeal this tax has increased in the last years, with activists arguing that menstrual hygiene products should be classified as tax-exempt necessities, alongside other items such as food, tap water and medicine. This issue pertains to gender equality, affordability and women’s health. While the large majority of the countries around the world still tax menstrual hygiene products as non-essential goods, some countries are starting to lift or reduce the tax. In 2004, Kenya became a trailblazer when it was the first country in the world to repeal the tampon tax. Listen to this podcast to learn more on the topic, by discovering both sides of the argument, and understanding the implications following an amendment of the tax.
Cum-Ex deals – the biggest tax scandal in the history of Germany – refer to very complex financial transactions that involved exploiting a legal loophole in order to enable several organizations to claim the same capital gains tax refund. It is estimated that this has resulted in a loss of several billion euros for the German state. Judiciary is now suppossed to determine whether these deals have been illegal. This podcast deals with the questions what challenges the state now faces and what the implications of this scandal for the political system in Germany are.
Podcast on the Abolishment of the Real Estate Acquisition Tax in the Czech Republic by Martin Husek
In 1984, the Swiss Federal Court ruled that the marriage penalty, i.e. taxing married couples higher than unmarried ones, as unconstitutional. 37 years later, the penalty still exists, with over 700,000 couples in Switzerland affected. This has had serious implications for women’s labor market participation. While various alternatives to joint taxation are being discussed, individual taxation would not only eliminate any marriage penalties and bonuses, it would also incentivize female labor market participation most. If accompagnied by further policies such as affordable childcare and parental leave, individual taxation could play a significant role in the women’s struggle for equality.
In this episode of Tax Talk, we will be talking about last week’s G7 agreement to implement a global minimum tax rate, what it means, and how it affects developing countries and smaller economies.
Many homes with bricked up windows represent integral icons in British towns and cities. Why so? In this podcast, we dive back into history to discover the Window Tax, that was in effect for more than 150 years up until 1851. We shall explore why such a tax came about; what its intended and unintended consequences were, and what role it had in revenue collection for the Crown, alongside other indirect taxes. Finally, we shall take a look at how tax avoidance behavior has left a permanent and observable mark on architecture across the world. This is a story of incredible ingenuity on the part of Englishmen in asserting their liberties against parliament by exploiting loopholes in legislation to free themselves from the burdens of taxation.
This podcast episode talks about the major public health issues of obesity and diabetes and what could be done to solve them. The main focus lies on the sin tax on sugary drinks, or sugar-sweetened beverages, which was introduced in the USA in Berkeley, California in 2014. It explores what a sin tax is in general and its mechanics, while then diving deeper into the benefits but also possible downfalls of this instrument when it […]
Recent Comments