Tax Types

Companies should pay  corporation  tax  on  profits  realised  in  jurisdictions  where  they  have  a  presence.     For  OECD  countries, corporation  tax  accounts no more than  10%  of  their  total  tax  take.

Individuals  pay  tax  on  employment  income.  This  can  be  deducted in  the  payslip by  the  employer  (if  salaried)  or  paid by  the individual  after submitting  a tax  return  (if  a  contractor).  In 2019, this accounted for 23.5% of the tax take (OECD Average). 

Many  tax authorities  have  access  to  individuals'  bank accounts,  so are aware  of  their  income, but  still  expect   the  individual  to  voluntarily declare.  Individuals  who  do  not  declare  can  then  be put  under  surveillance... 

 Artificial Intelligence  could  enable  jurisdictions to  interpret  income  in  bank  accounts  and automatically  levy  the  tax  due.

The main component of Goods & Services Tax is Value-Added  Tax  (VAT)  in  Europe  or  General  Sales  Tax (GST)  elsewhere and is  levied  as  a  %  of  the  selling  price  of  goods  or  services  and  paid to the exchequer by  the  seller.  It accounts for 32.7% of the tax take of the OECD countries in 2019. 

VAT  is  complex:  a  business  that  buys  and  sells  has  to  track and  deduct  the  VAT  paid  on  purchases  from the  VAT  received  on  sales.  GST  is simply  paid  at  every sales step of  the  chain, without  the purchases  netting-off.

Another component of Goods & Services Tax is Import Tariffs (or Customs Duties). These are levied when goods enter the country.

 A potential tax on financial transactions (The Tobin Tax) was pioneered by James Tobin, originally on currency transactions, but has now expanded to include various other financial transactions as the Robin Hood Tax