This article is the first part of a two-part examination of the contentious issue of how state governments' provision of goods and services to the public should be taxed under a VAT.

An analysis of why current public sector pension accounting standards understate liabilities and encourage excessive risk-taking

The court's rationale in Midwest Railcar Repair v. South Dakota Department of Revenue and Regulation contradicts basic principles of public finance economics.

Competing currents will continue to push the state corporate income tax in opposite directions.Ultimately, the only certainty is that this tax will remain an active and hotly debated part of the state revenue landscape well into the future.

The exemption of groceries serves the essential purpose of easing the fiscal burden on those with limited economic means. Economic analysis suggests, however, that this policy is not a desirable way to advance that purpose.

This book by Alan Viard and Robert Carroll proposes to completely replace the income tax system with a progressive consumption tax.

The typical sales tax applies primarily to sales of goods and exempts many types of consumer services. The disparate treatment of goods and services has been uniformly condemned by tax policy scholars because it creates economic inefficiency and complexity.

What is the impact of unemployment insurance on the recession and how does Obama's proposal hold up?