This paper considers the influence of taxes on the financial incentive to invest in human capital and explores the tax treatment of private investment by individuals and employers in post-compulsory education and lifelong learning in 31 OECD countries, India and South Africa. The paper describes targeted personal, corporate and value added tax measures related to education and training and analyses them in terms of their impacts on the incentive to acquire skills and their distributional effects. The desirability of different forms of tax relief for skills formation is examined from the point of view of efficiency, equity and administrative simplicity within the broader context of fiscal policy and the role of government in skills formation beyond compulsory education. This paper was prepared for the OECD Skills Strategy (www.skills.oecd.org). It draws on information provided by Delegates to Working Party No. 2 on Tax Policy Analysis and Tax Statistics of the Committee on Fiscal Affairs of the OECD. The author thanks these Delegates as well as Delegates of the OECD Skills Strategy Advisory Group for their helpful comments on earlier drafts. The arguments employed and opinions expressed in this paper do not necessarily reflect the official views of the Organisation or of the governments of its member countries. The author is also grateful for comments provided by Bert Brys, Stephen Matthews, Alastair Thomas and Steve Clark, all from the OECD Centre for Tax Policy and Administration. The author is responsible for any remaining errors. This document and any map included in it are without prejudice to the status of or sovereignty over any territory, to the delimitation of international frontiers and boundaries and to the name of any territory, city or area. The data for Israel are supplied by and under the responsibility of the relevant Israeli authorities. The use of such data by the OECD is without prejudice to the status of the Golan Heights, East Jerusalem and Israeli settlements in the West Bank under the terms of international law. (Carolina Torres).
Torres, C. (2012), “Taxes and Investment in Skills”, OECD Taxation Working Papers, No. 13, OECD Publishing, Paris.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/5k92sn0qv5mp-en
