Main features of tax systems in Latin American countries

This paper provides an overview of the tax system in Latin American countries and its main features. We collect data and analyze the main trends of the evolution of fiscal burden and tax structure from the 1990s and we focus on the effects of taxation on income redistribution and equality, tax evasion and tax compliance. This helps us to underline that the tax systems of Latin American countries do not signifi66 cantly contribute to the reduction of income inequality: Gini post tax coefficients continue to be very high, implying that the higher tax burden is especially born by low income taxpayers.