Value Added Tax in the 21st Century: Design, Challenges, and Opportunities

Adopting distinct and new perspectives to analyse VAT policy and practice, this book explores the key design challenges and opportunities faced by VAT jurisdictions in the 21st century. The book shows how the VAT, the world’s most preferred form of consumption tax, has failed to live up to the expectations of its advocates since its earliest iterations about a century ago.It identifies and explains the gaps between VAT theory and practice, drawing on lessons from recent international experience.The book begins with an analysis of key design features of VAT systems, including concessions, registration thresholds and small business regimes.It goes on to explore more complex issues, such as the application of the tax to financial supplies, sharing economy transactions, and international cross-border sales, as well as the treatment of transactions and revenue within jurisdictions that operate under multiple-tiered systems of government.These issues represent challenges commonly encountered