中美企业所得税差异比较及启示

当前,将所得税制度发展得最为完善的当属美国,其税收立法的完备性、征管稽查的严密性以及征管手段的先进性一直处于国际领先水平。然而,税制国与国之间差异的存在,仍然给跨国企业进行税收筹划留有很大的空间。     

增值税超速增长的微观机制分析

本文基于企业的视角对增值税与GDP的增长机制进行了分析,本文认为企业缴纳增值税的增长速度与企业所创造的GDP的增长速度并非必然保持一致。在企业内部与外部都有使二者不一致的因素,原材料投产率、增值率、产品销售率、折旧以及外购机器设备等企业内部因素会在企业的生产过程当中使二者增速发生偏离。除企业内部因素外,统计数据的修正也会导致增值税与GDP增速前后不一。     

"两税"并轨对我国引进外国直接投资的影响

由于目前我国来自香港、台湾地区的直接投资以及一些国际避税地的外国直接投资占绝大多数,已将近总额的60%,因此,提高外资企业所得税率很可能会导致大量外资流向周边低税国家,从而对我国引进外资的总量产生较大影响。所以我们对税收优惠的调整在时间上和优惠方式的取舍上,都应有一个平稳的过渡,使我国对外开放和引进外资的政策保持延续性。     

On the Costs of Excise Taxes and Income Taxes in the UK

This paper develops an analytical framework for estimating the marginal excess burden (MEB) of taxes on gasoline, alcohol, tobacco, and labor in the UK, accounting for externalities and interactions among the taxes. Under most scenarios the MEB of the gasoline tax exceeds that for the labor tax, the MEB of the alcohol tax is roughly the same, while the MEB of the tobacco tax is lower than for the labor tax. These preliminary findings suggest that the gasoline tax may be too high, the alcohol tax might be about right, and the tobacco tax might be too low.     

Net Value Added and Earnings Determination

This paper argues that earnings are determined as a response to wealth, measured by net value added, and as an adjustment to the previous year level of earnings. The model appears well specified when applied to a random sample of firms-years. The results highlight the importance of wealth generation and the previous level of earnings as determinants of earnings.     

Zero‐Rating versus Cash Transfers under the VAT

To reduce the tax burden on the poor, nearly every VAT system allows for special treatment of certain goods or services. Zero‐rating the supply of certain foodstuffs is a prominent example of this practice. Using data on South Africa, this paper considers whether taxing foodstuffs alongside compensating cash transfers may be preferred to zero‐rating foodstuffs in a developing country context. The results show that cash transfers may be preferred if all the additional revenue from eliminating the zero rate can be earmarked and government is perfectly efficient. In the likely absence of earmarking and perfect efficiency, developing countries may need to apply special treatment to some foodstuffs to protect the poor. If this is the case, it is proposed that zero‐rating can be preferred to the exemption of certain foodstuffs.     

House Prices and Local Taxes in the UK

In this paper, estimates of the effects of local domestic property taxes (rates) on local house prices are presented, and the effect of local taxes on owner-occupied dwelling prices is calculated for a number of English cities for the period up to 1990. The methods used enable estimation to be made of the effect of the introduction, during 1990, of the Community Charge or poll tax in England, when the local tax base was moved from housing consumption onto individual residency. It is estimated that the reform could have increased house prices by around 15 per cent and contributed substantially to house price inflation.     

Debt,Taxes, and Banks

Understanding the impact on banks’ capital structures of tax biases toward debt finance is critical to assessing policy responses to socially excessive bank leverage—but there is no empirical evidence of its extent. Guided by some simple theory, this paper explores this impact for a large panel of banks in 82 countries. On average, the tax sensitivity of banks’ leverage proves significant and about as large as for nonfinancial firms. Somewhat counterintuitively, but as the theory suggests, taxation has little impact on the use of hybrids. Banks holding smaller equity buffers and larger banks are noticeably less sensitive to tax.     

Taxes and Financial Constraints: Evidence from Linguistic Cues

Using a new measure of financial constraints based on firms’ qualitative disclosures, we find that financially constrained firms—firms that use more negative words in their annual reports—pursue more aggressive tax planning strategies as evidenced by: (1) higher current and future unrecognized tax benefits, (2) lower short‐ and long‐run current and future effective tax rates, (3) increase in tax haven usage for their material operations, and (4) higher proposed audit adjustments from the Internal Revenue Service. We exploit the unexpected closures of local banks as exogenous liquidity shocks to show that firms’ external financial constraints affect their tax avoidance strategies. Overall, the linguistic cues in firms’ qualitative disclosures provide incremental information beyond traditional accounting variables or commonly used effective tax rates to reveal and predict tax aggressiveness, both contemporaneously and in the future.     

When You Know Your Neighbour Pays Taxes: Information,Peer Effects and Tax Compliance

In this paper, we suggest that individuals’ tax compliance behaviours are affected by the behaviour of their ‘neighbours’, or those about whom they may have information, whom they may know, or with whom they may interact on a regular basis. Individuals are more likely to file and to report their taxes when they believe that other individuals are also filing and reporting their taxes; conversely, when individuals believe that others are cheating on their taxes, they may well become cheaters themselves. We use experimental methods to test the role of such information about peer effects on compliance behaviour. In one treatment setting, we inform individuals about the frequency that their neighbours submit a tax return. In a second treatment setting, we inform them about the number of their neighbours who are audited, together with the penalties that they pay. In both cases, we examine the impact of information on filing behaviour and also on subsequent reporting behaviour. We find that providing information on whether one's neighbours are filing returns and/or reporting income has a statistically significant and economically large impact on individual filing and reporting decisions. However, this ‘neighbour’ information does not always improve compliance, depending on the exact content of the information.     

增值税转型对经济结构影响的实证分析

增值税转型具有拉动投资的效应,本文从产业结构、行业结构、区域结构、投资与消费结构等不同角度对增值税转型可能会对我国经济结构产生的影响进行了实证分析。分析结果表明增值税转型可能会使本已失调的经济结构进一步恶化,增值税转型推进方案的选择应该慎重考虑。     

关于构建我国能源税制的思考

目前,我国能源供求矛盾日益突出,已成为影响经济社会发展的重要制约因素。税收政策作为国家宏观调控的主要工具之一,在促进节约利用、合理开发能源方面具有独特的调节功能。为实现新世纪的经济社会发展战略目标,我国应考虑建立能源税收体系。深化税制改革,调整、完善现有税种,适时开征新税种,建立完整的能源税收制度。     

不同类型增值税的税收中性分析

我国采用生产型增值税,增值税的税收中性特征没有充分体现出来,对于宏观经济运行和微观主体的行为都有一定的干扰。从税收中性的角度分析,消费型增值税的超额税收负担最小,最符合增值税的中性特征,是我国增值税改革的方向。     

Attitudes towards Tax Levels: A Multi‐Tax Comparison*

We analyse Swedes' opinions about the levels of 11 different taxes to see which taxes people are most averse to and why. The most unpopular tax is the real estate tax, while the corporate tax is the least unpopular. We find a strong self‐interest effect in tax attitudes and that knowledge and education increase support for corrective taxes.     

Implementing Subnational Value Added Taxes on Internal Trade: The Compensating VAT (CVAT)

Thispaper describes an ingenious and elegant scheme for implementinga destination-based value added tax (VAT) on cross-border tradewithin a nation or group of nations. Sales to local purchasers(registered traders, households, and unregistered traders) wouldbe subject to the local VAT, but sales to purchasers in otherstates would be zero-rated for state VAT and subject insteadto a ``compensating value added tax' (CVAT). Credit would beallowed for tax on purchases by registered traders: for the localVAT on intrastate purchases and for the CVAT on interstate purchases.     

Taxes and production: The case of Pakistan

This paper investigates the effectiveness of investment incentives and corporate income taxes in influencing production and investment decisions in the Pakistani wearing apparel and leather products industries. Three tax instruments are considered: the corporate income tax (CIT), the investment tax credit (ITC), and the capital cost allowance (CCA).The results show that since there are significant capital adjustment costs, it is important to distinguish between the short, intermediate, and long-run effects associated with the tax instruments. Production decisions are relatively more responsive to changes in the ITC rate compared to changes in either CCA or CIT rates in each run. However, only in the long run for the apparel industry are the ITC and CCA rates cost effective in stimulating investment. The CIT is never cost effective. Thus targeted instruments outperform the general CIT instrument. In addition, although the incentive to invest is enhanced, there is little effect on output. Therefore, tax incentives essentially make production techniques more capital intensive.     

A Note on Green Taxes and Double Dividends

Two highly influential articlesin the literature on green taxes and double dividends are Bovenbergand de Mooij (1994) and Goulder (1995). Goulder's primary concernis whether or not green tax reforms may increase welfare definedexclusive of environmental quality, while Bovenberg and de Mooijprimarily focus on the employment effects of such reforms. Unfortunately,Goulder misinterprets Bovenberg and de Mooij's results in takingthe sign of the uncompensated wage elasticity of labour supplyas being the decisive factor for whether or not welfare exclusiveof environmental quality rises under a green tax reform. Thiserror is pointed out and corrected in this note.     

Tax without Design: Recent Developments in UK Tax Policy

This paper considers the development of tax policy in the UK over the last decade or so and assesses policy change against a low bar – consistency and coherence. While this government has followed some consistent policies – notably, in some aspects of corporation tax and in increasing the income tax personal allowance – there are few signs of a wider coherent strategy. The same has been true of other recent governments. Many aspects of the system have become more complex. There have been numerous policy reversals. And few of those aspects of the system in most need of reform have been tackled. The need for reform, and a clear strategy for reform, remain as pressing as ever.     

Taxes and the global allocation of capital

Despite enormous growth in international capital flows, capital-output ratios continue to exhibit substantial heterogeneity across countries. We explore the possibility that taxes, particularly corporate taxes, are a significant source of this heterogeneity. The evidence is mixed. Tax rates computed from tax revenue are inversely correlated with capital-output ratios, as we might expect. However, effective tax rates constructed from official tax rates show little relation to capital—or to revenue-based tax measures. The stark difference between these two tax measures remains an open issue.     

Competition in Unit vs. Ad Valorem Taxes

This paper shows that in a standard model of tax competition, the Nash equilibrium in capital taxes depends on whether these taxes are unit (as assumed in the literature) or ad valorem (as in reality). In a symmetric version of the model, general results are established: taxes and public good provision are both higher, and residents in all countries are better off, when countries compete in unit taxes, as opposed to ad valorem taxes. However, the difference in equilibrium outcomes is negligible when the number of countries is large.