The trend of increasing inequality in the distribution of income and wealth in most developed countries has led to calls for corrective tax increases for the rich and wealthy. Such calls are often confronted with the claim that higher taxes on top personal incomes, corporate income and wealth...

From 1999 to 2005 the former Red-Green government in Germany enacted a series of ambitious tax cuts that were supposed to boost the German Economy. The article argues that these tax cuts instead of boosting the economy involved major costs. The revenue losses induced substantial expenditures...