Carl Shoup

Carl Sumner Shoup (October 26, 1902 – March 23, 2000) was an American economist and public finance expert. He is best known for leading the Shoup Mission of 1949–1950, tasked with revising the fiscal system of post-World War II Japan. He directly contributed to the tax codes of Canada, the United States, Japan, Europe, and South and Central America in the 1930s, '40s, and '50s. He retired as professor emeritus at Columbia University.

Background Carl Shoup was the son of railroad executive Paul Shoup and Rose Wilson Shoup. He and his wife Ruth had three children: Dale Shoup Mayer (1925–2019), Donald Sumner Shoup (1934–1989), and Paul Snedden Shoup.

Carl Shoup has been identified as an intellectual father of the value-added tax (VAT). In particular, Shoup developed a taxonomy for describing the value added taxes and linking the administration of the VAT to the capabilities of the particular country.

In 1949–1950, during post-World War II fiscal reconstruction, Shoup led the Shoup Mission, a team of seven economists appointed by General MacArthur to revise the Japanese fiscal system. The resulting tax codes remain in use today. Ricardo on Taxation: September 1992 by Ashgate Publishing, Ltd

Book chapters

Cnossen, S., & Shoup, C. S. (1987). Coordination of value-added taxes. In Tax coordination in the European Community (pp. 59-84). Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands.

Articles Shoup, C. S. (1989). Rules for distributing a free government service among areas of a city. National Tax Journal, 42(2), 103-121. Head, J. G., & Shoup, C. S. (1969). Public goods, private goods, and ambiguous goods. The Economic Journal, 79(315), 567-572. Shoup, C. S. (1951). Some Considerations on the Incidence of the Corporation Income Tax. The Journal of Finance, 6(2), 187-196. Shoup, C. (1944). Postwar Federal Interest Charge. The American Economic Review, 34(2), 44-85. Shoup, C. (1940). The Taxation of Excess Profits I. Political Science Quarterly, 55(4), 535-555. Honors Shoup was awarded the Order of the Sacred Treasure twice by Japan's Emperor Hirohito. Daniel M. Holland Medal, 1993 McVicknar Professor Emeritus of Political Economy Columbia University Professorship in Honoring Carl Sumner Shoup Endowed by Toyota Motor Company