Module 7

Property, wealth and transfer taxes, social contributions, incentives and the design of a tax system

The earlier modules covered the taxes that most people meet: on income, on profits, on spending and across borders. This module covers the rest, and then steps back. It sets out how gains on assets are taxed, how land and buildings are taxed each year and on sale, how property passes at death and by gift, how some countries tax wealth, how wages carry social contributions that fund pensions and health, and how taxes are used for policy goals such as cleaner air and more research. It ends with the questions behind every system: how fair is it, how efficient, how simple, and how much does it raise? A lawyer who can ask those questions can read any new tax with confidence.

General education on taxation law, using invented people, businesses and figures. It states common principles in simplified form and does not describe any one country’s law, which differs and changes; tax rules, rates, thresholds and deadlines are strict and local. It is not tax or legal advice. Consult a qualified adviser in the place that matters.