What Can America Learn from the British Tax System?

This paper examines elements of British tax policy and discusses their implications for the United States, where several recent proposals would mirror aspects of the British system. These include reducing filing requirements under the individual income tax, indexing capital gains for inflation, cutting mortgage interest deductions, enacting a value-added corporate tax, and integrating the corporate and personal income taxes. The paper also discusses implications fo the poll tax for tax reform. Britain and America have made different choices involving equity, efficiency, simplicity, and other goals. These choices offer the chance to help identify the impact of tax policy.

This article also appeared in Fiscal Studies, November 1997.