Consumption Taxes This analyst erroneously implied that value added taxes are cumulative through the supply chain when in fact any VAT paid on an input is deductible, thus ensuring it is the final customer paying the tax. The VAT is an important discussion point because the Trump Administration compares them to the tariffs now being applied to trading partners. According to the OECD, consumption taxes comprise 30 percent of total tax revenues, and they have been increasing in nearly 60 percent of the 38 richest countries. The U.S. predominantly uses an income tax for government revenues, seeing consumption taxes as regressive since they tend to have greater impact on lower income consumers. Critics also argue that tariffs are inflatio...
Key Market Insights The broad market is locked in on this week’s Trump-Xi meeting in Beijing, but this is no longer just a trade summit. Increasingly, the meeting is becoming tied directly to Iran, energy security, and the growing global economic fallout from disruptions through the Strai...
From WPI Consulting
Illuminating the value of technical research
On behalf of a commodity producer organization, WPI evaluated the outputs from a project that featured a $5 million investment into technical research over multiple years. WPI’s team captured the results of this extensive effort and synthesized them for presentation to the organization’s governing board; among the findings uncovered and presented for the first time was the development of genomic traits proven, via rigorous testing, to provide crop yield advantages of 50 percent or more to U.S. farmers in times of drought. Capturing measurable results from long-term efforts can be challenging. Educating clients on the dynamics of success measurement when quantifiable results are not readily available requires deep client-consultant collaboration and an ability to consider both near- and long-term client aspirations with market/policy dynamics – attributes that WPI brings to every consulting engagement.