Electronic copy available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1593753 Political Regimes, Institutions and the Nature of Tax Systems* Stanley L. Winer Carleton University, CESifo and ICER Lawrence W. Kenny University of Florida Walter Hettich California State University, Fullerton This draft, January 2, 2010 * Authors are listed in reverse alphabetical order. Prepared for Tax Systems: Whence and Whither (Recent evolution, current problems and future challenges). A Conference sponsored by the Saving Bank Foundation of Spain, FUNCAS and UNICAJA. Malaga Spain, September 9 - 11, 2009. We are grateful to Sophie Bernard for research assistance. We thank our discussant at the conference, Julio López Laborda, for his thoughtful remarks, as well as conference participants. The paper also served as the basis for a general address by Winer at the XXI Riunione Scientifica Siep (Italian Public Finance Society), Pavia, September 24, 2009, with helpful discussion by Silvia Giannini.