<p>By both effect and example, tax policy in the United States has a huge impact on the rest of the world. This paper explores five features of the American tax system that seem, from a British and European perspective, to be both especially peculiar and potentially instructive. These are: the remarkably low overall level of taxation; the absence of a value added tax (or any other general national tax on consumption); the absence of any explicit interstate equalisation; the marginal subsidisation of low earnings under the Earned Income Tax Credit; and the fragmentation of power in policymaking, an important aspect of which is the role played by the Constitution.</p>
Authors
![Mick Keen](/sites/default/files/styles/square_desktop/public/2024-02/Mick%20Keen.jpg?itok=bPh50Kiy)
Michael Keen
Research Associate University of Tokyo
Mick is a Ushioda Fellow at Tokyo College, University of Tokyo and a Research Associate at IFS.
Journal article details
- ISSN
- Print: 0143-5671 Online: 1475-5890
- JEL
- H10, H20, H50, H70.
- Issue
- November 1997
Suggested citation
Keen, M. (1997). 'Peculiar institutions: A British perspective on tax policy in the United States' (1997)
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