Revenue Forecasting and Evaluation Criteria

The following sections are included:IntroductionOverview of the Tax SystemRevenue ForecastingTax EvaluationWe begin this lecture with a brief description of the tax system in this country. The tax system – reflecting our complicated federalist system – is a complex web of different tax types used by different levels of government and revenue sharing between levels through intergovernmental grants. We will then turn to a brief discussion of revenue forecasting, which is a crucial part of the budgeting process. Finally, the bulk of the lecture will be devoted to a discussion of the criteria typically used to evaluate tax policies and government revenue sources.