Catholic University Law Review Volume 46 Issue 1 Fall 1996 Article 3 1996 A Comparative Approach to Income Tax Law In the United Kingdom and the United States William B. Barker Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.edu/lawreview Recommended Citation William B. Barker, A Comparative Approach to Income Tax Law In the United Kingdom and the United States, 46 Cath. U. L. Rev. 7 (1997). Available at: https://scholarship.law.edu/lawreview/vol46/iss1/3 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by CUA Law Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Catholic University Law Review by an authorized editor of CUA Law Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. ARTICLES A COMPARATIVE APPROACH TO INCOME TAX LAW IN THE UNITED KINGDOM AND THE UNITED STATES William B. Barker* INTRODUCTION Throughout the world, income taxation is one of the principal methods by which nation-states raise revenue to fund ever-increasing governmen- tal expenditure. While several different taxing regimes exist, it comes as no surprise to tax professionals that these different tax systems share many common principles and, indeed, a common language of income tax- ation. For example, there are many similarities in the various approaches taken to determine exactly what is to be included in the income tax base, and most systems generally compute taxable income by allowing for re- ductions or deductions for the cost of making profits, including al- lowances for capital recovery. Once one begins to focus on specifics, however, these broad similarities may be obscured by the many differences in various income tax laws.