"This book is the product of the first Cnossen Forum-Tax by design for the Netherlands that was held on 23-24 May 2019."--Page v.

The Dutch tax system distorts economic decisions, treats equal economic positions unequally for tax purposes, and is extraordinarily complex. Following in the footsteps of the Mirrlees Review, prominent economists from academia and the policy arena, at home and abroad, provide independent, evidence-based analyses of the system's shortcomings, as well as detailed proposals for reform. Tax by Design for the Netherlands spans the whole spectrum of taxes on labor and capital income, profits, consumption, wealth, inheritance, and charges to correct for market and individual failure, including the environment.

Based on the findings of a commission chaired by James Mirrlees, this volume presents a coherent picture of tax reform whose aim is to identify the characteristics of a good tax system for any open developed economy, assess the extent to which the UK tax system conforms to these ideals, and recommend how it might be reformed in that direction.

This study introduces the concept of “Tax Compliance by design”. It describes how revenue bodies can exploit developments in technology and the ways in which modern SMEs organise themselves to incorporate tax compliance into the systems businesses use to manage their financial affairs.

Kingdom of the Netherlands–The Netherlands: Selected Issues

Widespread voluntary tax compliance plays a significant role in countries’ efforts to raise the revenues necessary to achieve Sustainable Development Goals. As part of this process, governments are increasingly reaching out to taxpayers – current and future – to teach, communicate and assist them in order to foster a “culture of compliance” based on rights and responsibilities, in which citizens see paying taxes as an integral aspect of their relationship with their government.