Economic vs. accounting depreciation

In this paper we present and estimate a model of economic depreciation consistent with producer's optimization. The estimated economic depreciation, which is a function of the rate of utilization and level of maintenance, is about half of that used according to tax (accounting) depreciation. The difference between the economic and tax rates of depreciation results in a subsidy and earlier capital replacement. The implicit maximum net tax subsidy expressed as a proportion of the acquisition price of the asset is 13.3% for a sample of Canadian trucking firms.     

Debt, taxes, and international equilibrium

This paper employs an extended Miller model to analyze capital structure decisions of individual firms in a two-country setting. Miller equilibria are generally not consistent with an international equilibrium if the tax subsidy of debt differs across countries. The most obvious reason for differential tax subsidies is differences between national corporate tax rates. We also identify differential tax subsidies of debt if inflation rates differ across countries. For both cases we examine the adjustment process from national equilibria to an international equilibrium without and with barriers to international investment. We derive the relationship between the equilibrium yields on debt and equity in the two countries and discuss the Fisher hypothesis that real returns do not depend upon inflation in a two-country Miller world.     

If Agricultural Land Taxation Is So Efficient, Why Is It So Rarely Used?

The land tax enjoys a distinguished pedigree in the theoreticalliterature on tax efficiency, yet it is rarely used as a seriousrevenue source in rural areas of developing countries. Thisarticle considers three drawbacks of the land tax relative totaxes on exports or marketed output: (1) capitalization effectsof the land tax impose a large burden on the current generation,(2) land taxation increases the riskiness of net farmer income,and (3) administration of the land tax entails costly informationalrequirements. This article demonstrates that only the secondand third drawbacks are valid economic arguments against theland tax. Simulations based on an economic model of farm behaviorsuggest that farmers may still prefer a land tax to an exporttax despite the increased uncertainty of their after-tax income.Administrative costs are therefore the best explanation of theweak link between the theoretical and practical aspects of landtaxation.     

Bond Yields,Taxes, and the Dimensions of Default Risk

This work develops and empirically estimates models of bond yields subject to default risk. Parameters for the probability of survival and the recovery rate subsequent to default are included in a model of corporate bond yields that allow a study of interactions among them. The municipal version of the model includes the tax rate as an additional factor. Empirical evidence is found that supports the notion that both dimensions of default, considered jointly, are related to bond quality. In addition, statistically significant differences in tax rates suggest that higher tax rates are associated with higher grade municipal bonds.     

Corporate Social Responsibility,Tax Aggressiveness,and Firm Market Value

This paper examines the relationship of corporate social responsibility (CSR), tax aggressiveness, and firm market value. An economic model has been developed to show that profit‐maximization firms are willing to incur additional costs in CSR, such as paying more taxes, as long as they can differentiate their products from non‐CSR firms, and that socially conscious consumers will buy products from CSR firms at prices higher than those of non‐CSR firms. The empirical study in this paper indicates that the higher the CSR ranking of a firm, the less likely a firm is to engage in tax aggressiveness. It also indicates that a reputation of higher CSR will enhance firm market value. Using Canadian companies listed in the S&P/TSX 60 index, I find that both firms’ five‐year effective tax rates and annual effective tax rates are positively associated with their overall CSR scores as well as with their social scores. Firms’ five‐year effective tax rates are also positively associated with their governance index. I also find that firms’ overall CSR ranking and governance scores are positively associated with their market value.     

影响纳税人税收遵从决策的因素

税收遵从决策是纳税人行为选择的一个复杂过程,其中起作用的因素很多,除了经济因素,还包括非经济因素。按照经典的逃税模型——A-S模型①所揭示的主要因素是稽查概率和罚款率,除此之外影响纳税人遵从决策的因素还包括:税收遵从成本、税制、纳税人个体特征、对政府的满意程度以及税收文化等。     

我国税收结构与经济增长关系的实证检验

根据我国1985～2008年样本数据,利用多元线性回归模型对我国税收结构与经济增长的关系进行实证检验,结果表明:流转税、所得税(尤其是个人所得税)份额的增加有利于人均GDP的增长,财产税的经济效应尚未体现,宏观税负和赤字融资的增加已经抑制了人均GDP的增长。目前我国需要进一步完善税制,加强征收管理,提高所得税份额,减少债务融资规模。     

总部经济、税收背离与地方税收收入能力

区域间的税收背离是大国经济中的普遍现象,其使得一个地区潜在的税收收入能力与实际获得的税收收入出现了偏差,总部经济因素是影响地方税收收入能力实现程度的重要影响因素.通过面板数据的实证分析发现,不管是否考虑征管因素,或是分税种考察,总部经济因素对地方税收收入能力的影响效果要显著大于人均GDP增加和其他影响因素的作用,是导致地区间相对财力水平差距的重要原因.在短期内,对税收流出地区进行纵向和横向的税收转移支付是解决税收背离问题的手段之一;而在长期,需要在深入研究税收基础理论的前提下,借助构建现代税收制度的时代契机,使税收收益与税源贡献相匹配,从源头上彻底解决区域间税收背离问题.     

Economic and equity effects on tax reporting decisions

This study examines reporting in a tax setting for which the typical empirical findings cannot be explained either by conventional economic theory or by equity theory alone. Instead, our results show that both conventional economic forces and equity considerations play important roles in reporting decisions. We extend previous research relating perceptions of inequity to reporting decisions by demonstrating that, in the absence of perceptions of inequity, reporting decisions are consistent with the conventional economic prediction. When perceptions of exchange inequity are experimentally induced, reporting decisions are inconsistent with the conventional economic prediction, but consistent with features of actual tax reporting in the field. Further analysis demonstrates that the reason these reporting decisions are inconsistent with the economic prediction is that exchange inequity effects induce taxpayers to report less income, thereby offsetting the economic forces that provide incentive for individuals to report more income. Building on earlier work, our study offers a more comprehensive explanation for why conventional economic analysis fails to accurately predict reporting decisions in the field.     

绿色金融、绿色创新与经济高质量发展

在可持续增长理论的基础上,本文将减排技术内生化,建立带有环境约束并包含金融部门的经济增长模型,解释了绿色金融通过支持绿色创新提升经济增长质量的内在机制。这一理论得到了基于中国省级面板数据中介效应分析的支持。本文为绿色金融的经济学建模提供了新的思路,推进了绿色金融的“功能”理论,论证了绿色金融对经济增长质量影响的“绿色创新渠道”,这意味着绿色金融不限于对少数清洁行业的支持,针对高污染、高能耗行业内部环保技术升级的金融服务也至关重要,是未来绿色金融政策需要关注的问题。     

Environmental policy,pollution, unemployment,and endogenous growth

The paper develops a model of endogenous economic growth with pollution externalities and a labor market distorted by union monopoly power and by taxes and transfers. We study the optimal second-best pollution tax and abatement policy and find that a shift toward greener preferences will tend to reduce unemployment, although it will hamper growth. We also find that greater labor-market distortions call for higher pollution tax rates. Finally, we show that a switch from quantity control of pollution combined with grandfathering of pollution rights to regulation via emission charges has the potential to raise employment, growth, and welfere without damaging the environment.     

环境税率、双重红利与经济增长

本文构建了一个包含环境税、污染存量和预期寿命的世代交替模型,研究环境税对环境红利和经济发展红利的影响。基于新古典增长模型的研究表明,环境税能够实现双重红利(环境红利和经济发展红利),这契合“绿水青山就是金山银山”的绿色发展理念。从传导机制看,环境税通过负收入效应使得资本积累下降,同时,环境税通过健康效应使得预期寿命延长,这又使得资本积累增加。环境税通过影响资本积累,进而影响环境质量和经济发展。此外,环境税率上升使得用于环境治理的政府支出增加,这使得经济更容易产生环境红利。基于内生增长框架的分析表明,环境税有助于摆脱“环境贫困陷阱”,这为解释国家之间的收入差距提供了一个参考机制。数值模拟结果显示,在新古典增长框架和内生增长框架下,均存在最优的环境税率可以极大化人均产出和经济增长率。本文认为,合理的环境税率有助于推进减污降碳协同治理。     

湖南省税收收入与经济增长的相关分析

运用协整检验和误差修正模型,以湖南省1970～2004 年的数据为样本,对湖南省税收收入与经济增长相关性进行的实证分析表明:湖南省经济增长与税收增长基本协调,但是,在湖南省税收收入高增长的同时,也存在税收收入的弹性相对偏低的问题.这一方面说明税务部门征收管理工作的进步,另一方面也说明非税收入的规模过大,挤占了税收增长的空间.为此,应继续加强征收管理;优化收入结构,强化非税收入管理;优化产业布局,大力发展制造业和服务业.     

Taxes, benefits, and careers: Complete versus incomplete markets

An incomplete-market life-cycle model with indivisible labor makes career lengths and human capital accumulation respond to labor tax rates and government supplied non-employment benefits. We compare aggregate and individual outcomes in this individualistic incomplete-market model with those in a comparable collectivist representative-family model with employment lotteries and complete-insurance markets. The incomplete- and complete-market structures assign leisure to different types of individuals who are distinguished by their human capital and age. These microeconomic differences distinguish the two models in terms of how macroeconomic aggregates respond to some types of government supplied non-employment benefits, but remarkably, not to labor tax changes.     

What do taxpayers prefer: Lower taxes or a better year-end position? A research note

What do people prefer, lower taxes or better year-end position? To our knowledge this is the first study that examines which component of individuals’ tax outcome, total tax or year-end position, drives their perceptions regarding their tax outcome as well as the legislation responsible. Based on prior economic and tax literature, especially borrowing from prospect theory and mental accounting, we predict that people are more likely to anchor on their prepayment position rather than on the total taxes in forming their perceptions about their tax position and their views on tax law changes. Based on a sample of 98 U.S. taxpayers we find that our predictions are supported. Specifically, we find that (1) people prefer a better year-end position than lower taxes; and (2) this preference is consistent regardless of whether they are in a refund or tax due position. Implications for public policy and accounting practitioners are also discussed.     

Macroeconomic Conditions, Firm Characteristics, and Credit Spreads

We study a structural model that allows us to examine how credit spreads are affected by the interaction of macroeconomic conditions and firm characteristics. Unlike most other structural models, our model explicitly incorporates equilibrium macroeconomic dynamics and models a firm's cash flow as primitive processes. Corporate securities are priced as contingent claims written on cash flows. Default occurs when the firm's cash flow cannot cover the interest payments and the recovery rate is dependent on the economic condition at default. Our model produces the following predictions: (i) credit spread is mostly negatively correlated with interest rate; (ii) credit spread yield curves are upward sloping for low-grade bonds; (iii) firm characteristics have significant effects on credit spreads and these effects also vary with economic conditions. These predictions are consistent with the available empirical evidence and generate implications for further empirical investigation.     

开征碳税的必要性、路径选择与要素设计

全球变暖已经成为学术界和政策制定者共同关注的热点。用碳税等经济手段促进二氧化碳等温室气体减排,已经成为一些国家应对气候和环境问题的重要选择。本文分析了我国实施碳税的必要性,概括了国际上实施碳税的一般路径,提出了我国引入碳税的策略选择,并对碳税的要素进行了框架性设计。     

Economic Growth and Tax-Competing Leviathans

Is tax competition good for economic growth? The paper addresses this question by means of a simple model of economic growth in which a wasteful Leviathan state sets taxes and provides a productive input. Wasteful behaviour is restricted by the voter, who reduces political support if her income is reduced. The intensity of tax competition is modelled via variation of a parameter measuring the mobility of the tax base. It is shown that the effects of increased mobility of the tax base on economic growth are ambiguous and that the elasticity of intertemporal substitution, which in this model equals the rate of intratemporal substitution between the government’s own consumption and its political support, is a decisive variable in this context.     

Consumption Taxation and Endogenous Growth in a Model with New Generations

This article studies the implications of consumption taxation on capital accumulation in a one-sector endogenous growth model with finite horizons. A tax on consumption, when tax revenues are lump-sum rebated to consumers, redistributes income between living generations and future, still unborn, generations, and therefore depresses aggregate consumption and raises saving, stimulating capital accumulation and economic growth. If however the resources from taxation are used for financing unproductive public spending, the effect of the consumption tax on the endogenous growth rate disappears as no intergenerational redistribution of income occurs. Finally, a consumption tax hike accompanied by a compensatory reduction of public debt increases long-run economic growth and reduces the consumption-output ratio. Our results on consumption taxation differ substantially from those obtained within the endogenous growth literature.