General characteristics of fiscal measures

	Taxation concession	Special purpose grant	User charge	Tariff	Sales tax	Exise tax	Subsidy
Where levied/ applied	taxpaying entities	depends on purpose	service user	importer	wholesaler	manufacturer	manufactures & consumers
Range of application	eligible taxpayers	selected recipient	some public services	selected imports	selected goods	selected goods	depends on subsidy
Beneficiaries	eligible taxpayers	recipient suppliers and employees	taxpayers generally	some manufacturers	treasury	treasury	users/ providers of subsidised items
Disadvantaged group(s)	&emdash;	&emdash;	&emdash;	some consumers manufacturers	consumers	consumers	providers/ users of substitutes
Administration	moderately simple	simple	simple	complex	moderately simple	very simple	varies
How applied	taxation reduction	ad hoc grant	financial specific charge	ad valorem specific duty	graduated rates ad valorem	specific duty	cost reduction
Horiz. equity	poor	very poor	good	poor	generally fair	poor	generally poor
Vertical equity	very poor to good	generally good	good	poor	generally fair	very poor	generally poor
Fiscal impact	huge -ve	small -ve	positive	v. large +ve	moderate +ve	large +ve	(variable) total very large -ve
Major effect	reduce tax to consumer	depends on grant	raise price to consumer	raise price to imports	raise price to consumer	raise price to consumer	incr. sales income of seller

Source: Dept of Arts, Heritage and Environment, Fiscal Measures and the Environment: Impacts and Potential, AGPS, Canberra 1985, p.6.

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