Rebellion, Rascals, and Revenue

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Author :
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 0691199981
Total Pages : 536 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (911 download)

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Book Synopsis Rebellion, Rascals, and Revenue by : Michael Keen

Download or read book Rebellion, Rascals, and Revenue written by Michael Keen and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2021-04-06 with total page 536 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An engaging and enlightening account of taxation told through lively, dramatic, and sometimes ludicrous stories drawn from around the world and across the ages Governments have always struggled to tax in ways that are effective and tolerably fair. Sometimes they fail grotesquely, as when, in 1898, the British ignited a rebellion in Sierra Leone by imposing a tax on huts—and, in repressing it, ended up burning the very huts they intended to tax. Sometimes they succeed astonishingly, as when, in eighteenth-century Britain, a cut in the tax on tea massively increased revenue. In this entertaining book, two leading authorities on taxation, Michael Keen and Joel Slemrod, provide a fascinating and informative tour through these and many other episodes in tax history, both preposterous and dramatic—from the plundering described by Herodotus and an Incan tax payable in lice to the (misremembered) Boston Tea Party and the scandals of the Panama Papers. Along the way, readers meet a colorful cast of tax rascals, and even a few tax heroes. While it is hard to fathom the inspiration behind such taxes as one on ships that tended to make them sink, Keen and Slemrod show that yesterday’s tax systems have more in common with ours than we may think. Georgian England’s window tax now seems quaint, but was an ingenious way of judging wealth unobtrusively. And Tsar Peter the Great’s tax on beards aimed to induce the nobility to shave, much like today’s carbon taxes aim to slow global warming. Rebellion, Rascals, and Revenue is a surprising and one-of-a-kind account of how history illuminates the perennial challenges and timeless principles of taxation—and how the past holds clues to solving the tax problems of today.

Rebellion, Rascals, and Revenue

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Author :
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 069119954X
Total Pages : 536 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (911 download)

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Book Synopsis Rebellion, Rascals, and Revenue by : Michael Keen

Download or read book Rebellion, Rascals, and Revenue written by Michael Keen and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2021-04-06 with total page 536 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An engaging and enlightening account of taxation told through lively, dramatic, and sometimes ludicrous stories drawn from around the world and across the ages Governments have always struggled to tax in ways that are effective and tolerably fair. Sometimes they fail grotesquely, as when, in 1898, the British ignited a rebellion in Sierra Leone by imposing a tax on huts—and, in repressing it, ended up burning the very huts they intended to tax. Sometimes they succeed astonishingly, as when, in eighteenth-century Britain, a cut in the tax on tea massively increased revenue. In this entertaining book, two leading authorities on taxation, Michael Keen and Joel Slemrod, provide a fascinating and informative tour through these and many other episodes in tax history, both preposterous and dramatic—from the plundering described by Herodotus and an Incan tax payable in lice to the (misremembered) Boston Tea Party and the scandals of the Panama Papers. Along the way, readers meet a colorful cast of tax rascals, and even a few tax heroes. While it is hard to fathom the inspiration behind such taxes as one on ships that tended to make them sink, Keen and Slemrod show that yesterday’s tax systems have more in common with ours than we may think. Georgian England’s window tax now seems quaint, but was an ingenious way of judging wealth unobtrusively. And Tsar Peter the Great’s tax on beards aimed to induce the nobility to shave, much like today’s carbon taxes aim to slow global warming. Rebellion, Rascals, and Revenue is a surprising and one-of-a-kind account of how history illuminates the perennial challenges and timeless principles of taxation—and how the past holds clues to solving the tax problems of today.

Rebellion, Rascals, and Revenue

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Author :
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 0691234027
Total Pages : 536 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (912 download)

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Book Synopsis Rebellion, Rascals, and Revenue by : Michael Keen

Download or read book Rebellion, Rascals, and Revenue written by Michael Keen and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2022-05-17 with total page 536 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An engaging and enlightening account of taxation told through lively, dramatic, and sometimes ludicrous stories drawn from around the world and across the ages Governments have always struggled to tax in ways that are effective and tolerably fair. Sometimes they fail grotesquely, as when, in 1898, the British ignited a rebellion in Sierra Leone by imposing a tax on huts—and, in repressing it, ended up burning the very huts they intended to tax. Sometimes they succeed astonishingly, as when, in eighteenth-century Britain, a cut in the tax on tea massively increased revenue. In this entertaining book, two leading authorities on taxation, Michael Keen and Joel Slemrod, provide a fascinating and informative tour through these and many other episodes in tax history, both preposterous and dramatic—from the plundering described by Herodotus and an Incan tax payable in lice to the (misremembered) Boston Tea Party and the scandals of the Panama Papers. Along the way, readers meet a colorful cast of tax rascals, and even a few tax heroes. While it is hard to fathom the inspiration behind such taxes as one on ships that tended to make them sink, Keen and Slemrod show that yesterday’s tax systems have more in common with ours than we may think. Georgian England’s window tax now seems quaint, but was an ingenious way of judging wealth unobtrusively. And Tsar Peter the Great’s tax on beards aimed to induce the nobility to shave, much like today’s carbon taxes aim to slow global warming. Rebellion, Rascals, and Revenue is a surprising and one-of-a-kind account of how history illuminates the perennial challenges and timeless principles of taxation—and how the past holds clues to solving the tax problems of today.

Tax Progressivity and Income Inequality

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Author :
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780521587761
Total Pages : 388 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (877 download)

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Book Synopsis Tax Progressivity and Income Inequality by : Joel Slemrod

Download or read book Tax Progressivity and Income Inequality written by Joel Slemrod and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1996-10-13 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book assembles nine papers on tax progressivity and its relationship to income inequality, written by leading public finance economists. The papers document the changes during the 1980s in progressivity at the federal, state, and local level in the US. One chapter investigates the extent to which the declining progressivity contributed to the well-documented increase in income inequality over the past two decades, while others investigate the economic impact and cost of progressive tax systems. Special attention is given to the behavioral response to taxation of high-income individuals, portfolio behavior, and the taxation of capital gains. The concluding set of essays addresses the contentious issue of what constitutes a 'fair' tax system, contrasting public attitudes towards alternative tax systems to economists' notions of fairness. Each essay is followed by remarks of a commentator plus a summary of the discussion among contributors.

A History of Taxation and Expenditure in the Western World

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Author :
Publisher : Simon & Schuster
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 760 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (321 download)

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Book Synopsis A History of Taxation and Expenditure in the Western World by : Carolyn Webber

Download or read book A History of Taxation and Expenditure in the Western World written by Carolyn Webber and published by Simon & Schuster. This book was released on 1986 with total page 760 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this comprehensive analysis of social systems of taxation and budgeting, the authors provide detailed examples from ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt, Greece and Rome, the Middle Ages in Europe, and modern times to show how governments through the ages have raised money and spent it. They examine the two essential activities of government--taxing and spending--against the background of the societies in which they were imbedded and the development of government's administrative capacities. They also argue that government mobilization of resources involves critical human concerns--waging war and providing for the welfare of the people. ISBN 0-671-54617-1: $24.95.

Taxing Ourselves, fourth edition

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Author :
Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 026226482X
Total Pages : 397 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (622 download)

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Book Synopsis Taxing Ourselves, fourth edition by : Joel Slemrod

Download or read book Taxing Ourselves, fourth edition written by Joel Slemrod and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2008-02-08 with total page 397 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The fourth edition of a popular guide to the key issues in tax reform, discussing the current system and alternative proposals clearly and without a political agenda. As Albert Einstein may or may not have said, "The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax." Indeed, to follow the debate over tax reform, the interested citizen is forced to choose between misleading sound bites and academic treatises. Taxing Ourselves bridges the gap between the two by discussing the key issues clearly and without a political agenda: Should the federal income tax be replaced with a flat tax or sales tax? Should it be left in place and reformed? Can tax cuts stimulate the economy, or will higher deficits undermine any economic benefit? Authors and tax policy experts Joel Slemrod and Jon Bakija lay out in accessible language what is known and not known about how taxes affect the economy, offer guidelines for evaluating tax systems, and provide enough information to assess both the current income tax system and the leading proposals to reform or replace it (including the flat tax and the consumption tax). The fourth edition of this popular guide has been extensively revised to incorporate the latest information, covering such recent developments as the Bush administration's tax cuts (which expire in 2011) and the alternatives proposed by the President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform. Slemrod and Bakija provide us with the knowledge and the tools—including an invaluable voter's guide to the tax policy debate—to make our own informed choices about how we should tax ourselves.

Rethinking Estate and Gift Taxation

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Author :
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN 13 : 9780815719861
Total Pages : 544 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (198 download)

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Book Synopsis Rethinking Estate and Gift Taxation by : William G. Gale

Download or read book Rethinking Estate and Gift Taxation written by William G. Gale and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2011-07-01 with total page 544 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although estate and gift taxes raise a small fraction of federal revenues, they have become sources of increasing political controversy. This book is designed to inform the current policy debate and build a conceptual basis for future scholarship. The book contains eleven original studies of estate and gift taxes, along with discussants' comments. The essays provide background and historical information; analyze the optimal taxation of estates and gifts; examine the effects of the tax on charitable contributions, saving behavior, the distribution and level of wealth, tax avoidance and tax evasion; and explore the effects of alternatives to estate taxation.

The Dreadful Monster and its Poor Relations

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Author :
Publisher : Penguin UK
ISBN 13 : 0241434432
Total Pages : 218 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (414 download)

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Book Synopsis The Dreadful Monster and its Poor Relations by : Julian Hoppit

Download or read book The Dreadful Monster and its Poor Relations written by Julian Hoppit and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2021-05-27 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'An invaluable primer to some of the underlying tensions behind contemporary political debate' Financial Times It has always been an important part of British self-image to see the United Kingdom as an ancient, organic and sensibly managed place, in striking contrast to the convulsions of other European countries. Yet, as Julian Hoppit makes clear in this fascinating and surprising book, beneath the complacent surface the United Kingdom has in fact been in a constant, often very tense argument with itself about how it should be run and, most significantly, who should pay for what. The book takes its argument from an eighteenth century cartoon which shows the central state as the 'Dreadful Monster', gorging itself at the dinner table on all the taxes it can grab. Meanwhile the 'Poor Relations' - Scotland, Wales and Ireland, both poor because of tax but also poor in the sense of needing special treatment - are viewed in London as an endless 'drain on the state'. With drastically different levels of prosperity, population, industry, agriculture and accessibility between the United Kingdom's different nations, what is a fair basis for paying for the state?

Does Atlas Shrug?

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Author :
Publisher : Harvard University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780674001541
Total Pages : 540 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (15 download)

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Book Synopsis Does Atlas Shrug? by : Joel Slemrod

Download or read book Does Atlas Shrug? written by Joel Slemrod and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2000 with total page 540 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since the introduction of the income tax in 1913, controversy has raged about how heavily to tax the rich. Opponents of high tax rates claim that heavy assessments have negative incentives on the productivity of some of our most talented citizens; supporters stress the importance of the rich shouldering their "fair share," and decry the loopholes that permit many to escape their obligations. Notably absent from this debate is hard evidence about the actual impact of taxes on the behavior of the affluent. This book presents evidence by leading economists of the effects of taxes on the formation of businesses, the supply of labor, the form of executive compensation, the accumulation of wealth, the allocation of portfolios, and the realization of capital gains. Among its findings are that the labor supply of the rich remained unchanged in the face of large tax cuts in 1986, and that in late 1992 executives exercised billions of dollars' worth of stock options in order to beat the tax increases expected in 1993. The book also presents a history of efforts to tax the rich, a demographic snapshot of the financially affluent, and a road map to widely used tax-avoidance strategies. Does Atlas Shrug? will be of great interest to policymakers and interested citizens who want to know how much tax revenue could really be gained by increasing tax rates on the rich, or whether low capital gains tax rates really spur economic growth.

Tax Systems

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Author :
Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 0262026724
Total Pages : 235 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (62 download)

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Book Synopsis Tax Systems by : Joel Slemrod

Download or read book Tax Systems written by Joel Slemrod and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2013-12-13 with total page 235 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An approach to taxation that goes beyond an emphasis on tax rates to consider such aspects as administration, compliance, and remittance. Despite its theoretical elegance, the standard optimal tax model has significant limitations. In this book, Joel Slemrod and Christian Gillitzer argue that tax analysis must move beyond the emphasis on optimal tax rates and bases to consider such aspects of taxation as administration, compliance, and remittance. Slemrod and Gillitzer explore what they term a tax-systems approach, which takes tax evasion seriously; revisits the issue of remittance, or who writes the check to cover tax liability (employer or employee, retailer or consumer); incorporates administrative and compliance costs; recognizes a range of behavioral responses to tax rates; considers nonstandard instruments, including tax base breadth and enforcement effort; and acknowledges that tighter enforcement is sometimes a more socially desirable way to raise revenue than an increase in statutory tax rates. Policy makers, Slemrod and Gillitzer argue, would be well advised to recognize the interrelationship of tax rates, bases, enforcement, and administration, and acknowledge that tax policy is really tax-systems policy.

For Good and Evil

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Author :
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN 13 : 0819186317
Total Pages : 568 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (191 download)

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Book Synopsis For Good and Evil by : Charles Adams

Download or read book For Good and Evil written by Charles Adams and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 1993 with total page 568 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Records the impact of taxation on events in world history, from ancient Egypt to the present, and concludes that taxation has been a force that has shaped world history and has had a direct bearing on the civilization process.

Behavioral Public Finance

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Author :
Publisher : Russell Sage Foundation
ISBN 13 : 1610443853
Total Pages : 416 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (14 download)

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Book Synopsis Behavioral Public Finance by : Edward J. McCaffery

Download or read book Behavioral Public Finance written by Edward J. McCaffery and published by Russell Sage Foundation. This book was released on 2006-01-23 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Behavioral economics questions the basic underpinnings of economic theory, showing that people often do not act consistently in their own self-interest when making economic decisions. While these findings have important theoretical implications, they also provide a new lens for examining public policies, such as taxation, public spending, and the provision of adequate pensions. How can people be encouraged to save adequately for retirement when evidence shows that they tend to spend their money as soon as they can? Would closer monitoring of income tax returns lead to more honest taxpayers or a more distrustful, uncooperative citizenry? Behavioral Public Finance, edited by Edward McCaffery and Joel Slemrod, applies the principles of behavioral economics to government's role in constructing economic and social policies of these kinds and suggests that programs crafted with rational participants in mind may require redesign. Behavioral Public Finance looks at several facets of economic life and asks how behavioral research can increase public welfare. Deborah A. Small, George Loewenstein, and Jeff Strnad note that public support for a tax often depends not only on who bears its burdens, but also on how the tax is framed. For example, people tend to prefer corporate taxes over sales taxes, even though the cost of both is eventually extracted from the consumer. James J. Choi, David Laibson, Brigitte C. Madrian, and Andrew Metrick assess the impact of several different features of 401(k) plans on employee savings behavior. They find that when employees are automatically enrolled in a retirement savings plan, they overwhelmingly accept the status quo and continue participating, while employees without automatic enrollment typically take over a year to join the saving plan. Behavioral Public Finance also looks at taxpayer compliance. While the classic economic model suggests that the low rate of IRS audits means far fewer people should voluntarily pay their taxes than actually do, John Cullis, Philip Jones, and Alan Lewis present new research showing that many people do not underreport their incomes even when the probability of getting caught is a mere one percent. Human beings are not always rational, utility-maximizing economic agents. Behavioral economics has shown how human behavior departs from the assumptions made by generations of economists. Now, Behavioral Public Finance brings the insights of behavioral economics to analysis of policies that affect us all.

International Taxation and the Extractive Industries

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Author :
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
ISBN 13 : 1317330145
Total Pages : 364 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (173 download)

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Book Synopsis International Taxation and the Extractive Industries by : Philip Daniel

Download or read book International Taxation and the Extractive Industries written by Philip Daniel and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2016-09-23 with total page 364 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The taxation of extractive industries exploiting oil, gas, or minerals is usually treated as a sovereign, national policy and administration issue. This book offers a uniquely comprehensive overview of the theory and practice involved in designing policies on the international aspects of fiscal regimes for these industries, with a particular focus on developing and emerging economies. International Taxation and the Extractive Industries addresses key topics that are not frequently covered in the literature, such as the geo-political implications of cross-border pipelines and the legal implications of mining contracts and regional financial obligations. The contributors, all of whom are leading researchers with experience of working with governments and companies on these issues, present an authoritative collection of chapters. The volume reviews international tax rules, covering both developments in the G20-OECD project on ’Base Erosion and Profit Shifting’ and more radical proposals, identifying core challenges in the extractives sector. This book should become a core resource for both scholars and practitioners. It will also appeal to those interested in international tax issues more widely and those who study environmental economics, macroeconomics and development economics.

Taxes in America

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Author :
Publisher : What Everyone Needs to Know (H
ISBN 13 : 0190920866
Total Pages : 369 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (99 download)

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Book Synopsis Taxes in America by : Leonard E. Burman

Download or read book Taxes in America written by Leonard E. Burman and published by What Everyone Needs to Know (H. This book was released on 2020-02-15 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Arguments about taxation are among the most heated- no other topic is as influential to the role of government and the distribution of costs and benefits in America. But while understanding of our tax system is of vital importance, the complexity can create confusion. Two of America's leading authorities on taxes, Leonard E. Burman and Joel Slemrod, bring clarity in this concise explanation of how our tax system works, how it affects people and businesses, and how it might be improved. The book explores what makes a tax system fair, simple, and efficient, why our system falls short, and whether the new tax law promises much, if any, improvement. Accessibly written and organized in a clear, question-and-answer format, the book describes the intricacies of the modern tax system in an easy-to-grasp manner. It has been revised and updated to both explain the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) in 2017, the most comprehensive reform of its income tax system since 1986, and to examine its likely effects on individuals, businesses, and society. Among the questions discussed are: How much more tax could the IRS collect with better enforcement? How do tax burdens vary around the world? Why do corporations pay so little tax, even though they earn trillions of dollars every year? What kind of tax system is most conducive to economic growth? And, can taxes be fair?

Sweden's Welfare State

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Author :
Publisher : International Monetary Fund
ISBN 13 : 9781589061583
Total Pages : 160 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (615 download)

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Book Synopsis Sweden's Welfare State by : Mr.Subhash Madhav Thakur

Download or read book Sweden's Welfare State written by Mr.Subhash Madhav Thakur and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2003-05-01 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sweden has long been viewed as epitomizing a particular approach to economic and social policy. To its advocates, the Swedish welfare state builds on a strong social consensus favoring extensive state intervention to ensure a high quality of life for all Swedes. To its critics, the Swedish system is marked by excessive government intervention and attendant inefficiencies. These contrasting views are captured in imagery used by Prime Minister Göran Persson: "Think of a bumblebee. With its overly heavy body and little wings, supposedly it should not be able to fly--but it does." The Swedish welfare state is the bumblebee that has managed to fly. This book draws on many years of IMF surveillance and policy advice to explain how it has done so, to assess the challenges that the Swedish model faces in the new century, to propose a strategy for dealing with those challenges, and to draw lessons for the many other countries that face similar challenges from globalization and demographics.

Digital Cash

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Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 0691209162
Total Pages : 266 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (912 download)

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Book Synopsis Digital Cash by : Finn Brunton

Download or read book Digital Cash written by Finn Brunton and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2020-10-13 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The fascinating untold story of digital cash and its creators—from experiments in the 1970s to the mania over Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies Bitcoin may appear to be a revolutionary form of digital cash without precedent or prehistory. In fact, it is only the best-known recent experiment in a long line of similar efforts going back to the 1970s. But the story behind cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and its blockchain technology has largely been untold—until now. In Digital Cash, Finn Brunton reveals how technological utopians and political radicals created experimental money to bring about their visions of the future: to protect privacy, bring down governments, prepare for apocalypse, or launch a civilization of innovation and abundance that would make its creators immortal. Filled with marvelous characters, stories, and ideas, Digital Cash is an engaging and accessible account of the strange origins and remarkable technologies behind today's cryptocurrency explosion.

Changing Customs

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Author :
Publisher : International Monetary Fund
ISBN 13 : 9781589062115
Total Pages : 208 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (621 download)

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Book Synopsis Changing Customs by : Mr.Michael Keen

Download or read book Changing Customs written by Mr.Michael Keen and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2003-10-20 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper, based on the considerable practical experience of the IMF’s Fiscal Affairs Department, sets out a successful strategy for modernizing customs administration. The essence is to establish transparent and simple rules and procedures, and to foster voluntary compliance by building a system of self-assessment supported by well-designed audit policies. Having set out this strategy--and its benefits--the paper discusses in depth what is required in terms of trade policy, valuation procedures, dealing with duty reliefs and exemptions, controlling transit movements, organizational reform, use of new technologies, private sector involvement, and designing incentive systems for an effective customs administration.