Fiscal & Taxation Publications

May 1, 2014

Facts and Analysis: the Small Loans Market and Regulation in Lithuania

The small loans market (quick credit, pay-day loans) often gets a lot of criticism in the media. Its critics state that the market has too little supervision; that the industry does not properly assess the ability of customers to repay their loan; and that interest rates are artificially high.
May 1, 2014

Economic Freedom in the Eu: Mediocre Today – World Leader Tomorrow?

Five years since the outbreak of the most severe economic crisis of our time, there is widespread consensus that today’s levels of unemployment, exclusion, deficit, and debt are unsustainable and need to be addressed.
March 1, 2014

Sin Taxes: the Examples of Alcohol and Tobacco

So‐called “sin” taxes are very much in fashion in France and elsewhere. With the aim of reducing “sinful” behaviour and financing the health care system, public authorities are planning to raise the tax load on alcohol and tobacco even higher.
March 1, 2014

The Government Debt Iceberg

Western governments have developed unfunded social insurance programmes where retiree benefits are paid for from the taxes of the working-age population. This means that an ageing population leads to 
rising expenditures that cannot be covered without increasing taxes on the young.
September 1, 2013

Facts and Analysis: An Integrated European Market for Card, Internet and Mobile Payments

Regulation, specifically Interchange Fee caps on credit and debit cards, would be especially harmful to consumers and new merchants or start-up businesses that rely on or are developing new innovative solutions for the e-commerce market.