RESEARCH OF THE FINAL STAGE OF FORMATION OF A MODERN TAX SYSTEM

Abstract

The article is devoted to a comprehensive study of the final stage of forming the modern tax system. The previous article on this topic identified the factors that influenced the formation of tax mechanisms in the first half of the XX century. This publication aims to comprehensively characterize the final stage of the construction of the modern taxation system, which occurred in the second half of the XX century. The authors consider certain political and economic circumstances in which the countries of Western Europe and the United States were after the Second World War. The introduction of a wide range of preferential taxation mechanisms characterized this stage of the formation of the tax system. These are specific methods of redistribution of taxpayers' funds, described by the creation of individual taxation conditions for different categories of taxpayers. Such mechanisms aimed to increase political support from ordinary voters (primarily low-income) by strengthening their social protection. Currently, existing studies of the post-war tax systems of the "Western" world are mainly focused on the processes of globalization of the world economy and the assessment of its impact on the functioning of fiscal mechanisms. At the same time, little attention is paid to analyzing many other factors that were of primary importance for developing the tax system at that time, which, with minor transformations, still exists today. In this regard, we have traced the genesis and evolution of various tax theories based on controversial ideological principles; identified the reasons that contributed to the development of preferential elements of the tax system; analyzed the relationship between tax innovations and the political, economic, and ideological factors that had a subjective impact on them. The author assesses the scientific works of some prominent European and American scholars, which became the theoretical and methodological basis for the new taxation mechanisms of that time. In addition, the calculations have proved the low fiscal efficiency of progressive taxation mechanisms compared to proportional means. The study was carried out using several general scientific and unique methods.