Taxing Reforms

Richard Eccleston, Director, Institute for the Study of Social Change, University of Tasmania, Australia

• Contents: Introduction 1. Ideas, Institutions and the Politics of Taxation Reform 2. The Rise and Proliferation of VATs 3. The 30 Year Problem: The Australian GST 4. Mulroney’s Lament: The Politics of the Canadian GST 5. The Reform Limits of the Developmental State: The Politics of the Consumption Tax in Japan 6. Consumption Taxes and US Fiscal Exceptionalism Conclusion Index

'The book provides a useful review of a wide range of recent literature dealing with the interaction of ideas, interests and institutions in shaping the politics and outcomes of policy reform efforts in democratic countries, as well as an excellent illustration of how these ideas can be synthesized and used to compare, in a systematic and revealing way, policy episodes in quite different countries. It is an impressive scholarly achievement that deserves attention not only from the limited group of policy scholars with interests in taxation but also from anyone interested in either comparative politics or in understanding how and at what price significant policy changes may sometimes be achieved even in unpromising circumstances.'