The Rise of the Value-Added Tax
Cambridge Tax Law Series

This book explores one of the most significant trends in the evolution of global tax systems by asking how, within less than half a century, the value-added tax (VAT) has risen from relative obscurity to become one of the world's most dominant revenue instruments. Despite its significance, very little is known about why so many countries have adopted the VAT and, in particular, why different countries adopt the types of VAT that they do. The popular mythology provides that the merits of the VAT have underpinned its global spread; however, this book contends that much scholarship confuses the question of why the VAT has risen to dominance with the issue of what makes a good VAT. This book combines policy and legal analysis to propose a new way of understanding the rise of this important revenue instrument so as to better reflect the realities of the VATs that are actually implemented.

1. The rise of the value-added tax; Part I. The Rise of the Value-Added Tax – Exploring the Gap between Expectation and Delivery: 2. An introduction to the good VAT; 3. An introduction to the many real VATs in existence; Part II. Explaining the Rise of the VAT: 4. The conventional approach to explaining the rise of the VAT; 5. Toward an alternative approach to explaining the rise of the VAT; Part III. Case Studies on the Real-World Challenges of VAT Reform: 6. Australia; 7. The United States; 8. Conclusions on the rise of the value-added tax.

Kathryn James is a lecturer in the faculty of law at Monash University. She researches in the field of comparative tax law and policy, with particular emphasis on value-added tax. She has published in a number of leading journals, including the British Tax Review and Theoretical Inquiries in the Law.