조세체계와 세제개혁-미국의 조세개혁논의를 중심으로- = A Review of the Current Debate over Tax Reform in the United States

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

This paper examines the current tax system in the United States, and reviews the tax reform proposals such as flat tax, national sales tax, and USA(unlimited saving allowance). Based on the debate over tax reform in the United States, some implications of tax reform in Korea are provided and, it is emphasized to fundamental reform the Korean tax structure.
Tax reform, in fact, has moved to the front burner as an issue in the 1996 U.S. presidential campaign. Many economists and prominent members of Congress are also supporting various proposals to fundamentally reform the federal tax code. The current tax reform proposals fall into two categories---those that accept the current income tax structure as a good point, and seek to improve that structure; and those that want to abandon the income tax entirely for some of quite different. Most reform proposals, however, bill themselves as ""flat"" taxes This is true in spite of the fact that they differ tremendously from each other, and in spite of the fact that some of them are not noticeably flat in any particular dimension.
There are now three distinct dimensions of flat taxes---a single tax rate, a consumption tax base, and a clean tax base. The most eyecatching feature of the flat taxes is, of course, the flat rate. In place of the current system of graduated tax rates that increase with higher incomes, all or most, taxpayers would be subject to a single rate of tax. It is pointed out that it is possible to maintain Progressivity even with a single rate of tax. A single rate and a large exemption could in principle raise the same revenue as the current system, and result in a lower burden on low-income people, a somewhat higher burden on a broad swatch of the middle, and lower rates on the rich. The second element of many fundamental tax reform plans, a consumption tax base, is not commonly associated with flatness. But to economists, a consumption tax impose a uniform, call it flat if you like, tax on current consumption and future consumption in contrast, an income tax, because it taxes the return to saving, makes consumption in the future more expensive than consumption now. At the business level, the difference an income tax and a consumption tax is that the former only allows deductions for capital goods as they ""depreciate"" (wear out), while the latter allows the cost of investment goods to be deducted in full immediately, which is know as ""expending."" A third element of proposals for fundamental tax reform is to eliminate many or all of the features that provide special preferences for particular types of consumption or investment. The aim is variously described as ""flattening"" or ""broadening"" the tax base, ""leveling the playing field,"" or making the tax system more ""neutral."" These three distinct dimensions of flat taxes---a single tax rate, a consumption tax base, and a clean tax base---are motivated with simplicity, enforceability, efficiency, and neutrality of tax system.
In Korea the tax reform also becomes one of the hottest issues as in the U.S. because the current tax system was formulated to support the development strategy in the past 30 years. On July 1997 the Korean government already announced tax reform and rationalization of taxation policy as the one of policy issues in the ""21 National Agendas for Becoming as Open Market Economy : Preparation for Leaping towards 21st Century."" The government recognized that fair and reasonable tax system was very important for the continuous development of market economy since the taxation scheme and administration of tax system act as a base for the entire society's incentive system. It is expected, however, that in the Korean tax reform plan the tax structure based on the current income tax will be sustained and a few minor changes will be made. From the debate over tax reform in the United States, the Korean tax system should be also fundamentally restructured to meet the needs of the new era of libera

목차 (Table of Contents)

• 제1장 서론
• 제2장 미국의 조세구조와 문제점
• 제3장 미국에서의 조세개혁과 예상파급효과
• 제4장 우리나라 세제개혁과 조세정책
• 제5장 요약과 정책과제
• 참고문헌
• 부록
• Abstract