Local Taxation in Indonesia: Opportunities for Reform

The Indonesian Government has recently completed a major reform of national taxation; an obvious follow-up is the reform of local taxation. Provinces and kabupaten/kotamadya levy a wide range of local taxes, but with the exception of provincial taxes on motor vehicles, these are mostly small, inelastic and costly to collect. In addition, many have undesirable equity and efficiency implications. This paper analyses the present range of local taxes in terms of a set of criteria, and discusses such issues as local fiscal performance, the effect of multiple taxes, and taxation versus charging. The paper concludes with a review of the options for reform aimed not only at simplifying and improving local taxation, but also at reducing local government's dependence on central government grants.     

是土地供应量与房地产税赋提高了房价吗

自分税制实施后,“土地财政”成为我国地方政府获取收入以支撑财政支出的主要选择,而与此同时房价也在不断上涨。中央政府从民生角度要求地方政府对房价实施调控,地方政府则主要通过调整土地供给量和房地产税税赋来施加影响。土地供应量和税赋会影响供需双方从而影响房价,反过来房价又会影响税收收入及开发商对土地的需求,进而影响社会民生。本文对我国东、中、西部地区住房价格和土地供给量、房地产税税赋之间的关系进行分析,探讨各地区的住房价格上涨原因。通过构建住房价格和土地供给量、房地产税税赋之间的PVAR模型,利用格兰杰因果检验、脉冲分析和方差分解方法来透视地方政府行为对住房价格的影响。分析结果显示,地方政府行为和房价之间存在着联动关系,但在推动住房价格上涨的原因上存在着区域差异：在东部地区,土地供应量影响房价;中部地区,二者联合推动了房价上涨。而在西部地区,房地产税税赋对房价的影响明显。在政策建议上,对地价推动房价的地区要从丰富住房来源和数量入手,而税赋影响房价的地区则要完善相关税制改革。     

FOSTERING OR STRIPPING RURAL CHINA: MODERNIZING AGRICULTURE AND RURAL TO URBAN CAPITAL FLOWS

The present study focuses on the flow of fiscal and financial resources in China's rural economy during the first two decades of reform. Specifically, we seek to quantify the nature and direction of the capital flows between agriculture and the non‐agricultural sectors and between the rural and non‐rural sectors. We track identify the flows of three main sources of capital: fiscal flows, financial shifts through the formal banking system, and the implicit taxes that are moving through the grain system as a result of payment of in‐kind (e.g., delivery quotas by farmers). Through this analysis, we provide policy makers with a set of measures showing that although in recent years the agriculture‐to‐industry and rural‐to‐urban flows have appeared to reverse themselves, as late as 2000 it does not appear as if the government is not directing enough resources into the rural economy. Greater flows, however, are needed if rural China is to modernize.     

Energy conservation — what price a local initiative?

With the collapse of oil prices, shortages and long term increases in energy prices seem far away, and conservation is the last thing on our minds. Thus, national energy supply monopolies encourage the use rather than conservation of energy, whilst the alleged prospect of a long-term increase in electricity demand is used to justify investment in nuclear power. This article examines how decentralisation and a greater local involvement in national energy policy could overcome this contradiction. It also finds that the conservation strategies developed, after the oil crisis of the 1970's, in several other countries have, surprisingly, no British equivalent.     

Specific features of regional budget policy using the example of Novosibirsk oblast

The paper elicits the conditions for developing the financial base of local self-government and examines the breakdown of local budgets in Novosibirsk oblast. The author has analyzed the inhomogeneity characteristics of budget indicators before and after the municipalities were granted financial resources from the oblast budget and assessed cross-territorial differentiation in the fiscal capacity of Novosibirsk oblast municipalities. The paper analyzes the connection between grants, municipality taxes, and nontax revenues and assesses the marginal effect of an increase in taxes going to the local budgets.     

我国房产税改革对住房价格的影响分析

住房价格已成为影响我国社会居民幸福的首要因素。近日,《中共中央关于全面深化改革若干问题的决定》提出,今后将不断深化税收制度改革,完善地方税体系,逐步提高直接税比重,加快房地产税立法并适时推进改革。房产税的立法已被提上日程,本文结合新形势下上海和重庆试点房产税的改革政策及近三年来的实施效果,对我国现行房产税税制的合理性、改革的焦点及共识、房产税对住房价格的影响等理论问题进行阐述,最后提出关于房产税改革的发展方向。     

The complicit role of local government authorities in corporate bribery: Evidence from a tax collection reform in China

In January 2002, China decided to centralize corporate income tax collection, shifting the collection authority from the local tax bureaus (LTBs) to the state tax bureaus (STBs), for all firms established after December 31, 2001. We exploit this exogenous shock to identify a new cause for corporate bribery, namely, the complicit role of local government authorities. We find that firms whose income taxes are still collected by LTBs after the reform bribe more than similar firms whose taxes are collected by STBs. Such effects are more pronounced for firms located in provinces where government intervention is more prevalent and where judicial system is less independent. Moreover, we find that firms whose taxes are collected by LTBs enjoy lower tax burdens and receive greater tax-related subsidies, especially when they bribe more. Overall, our results highlight the reciprocation between local government authorities and firms in determining corporate bribery.     

明代地方官府赋役核算体系的早期发展

明洪武到弘治年间,州县官府的赋役管理从基本不依赖核算向需要且能够进行核算的状态转变。洪武、永乐时期,在官府体系内部,只有田赋被部分地纳入核算管理,其他赋役征发则完全或绝大部分无法计量,也没有计划性。宣德以降,地方官员吸收民间粮里阶层分担赋役负担的经验,在此基础上进行旨在“均平”的改革,以确保赋役的可持续征发。在探索均平之道的过程中,不同地方官员多采取量化赋役负担、预定征收计划、将派征对象标准化并进行摊派核算的方式。其中,田赋额等开始扮演摊派对象的角色。这开启了州县层面赋役征收核算体系的发展之路,也导致府、州、县与户、工等部及布政使司之间产生了赋役核算信息不对称,出现了二重会计结构。     

Non-Tariff Trade Regulations in Indonesia: Nominal and Effective Rates of Protection

Non-tariff regulations on imports and exports have spread in Indonesia since 2011. I report findings of a study of many of these regulations, in which a variety of methods were used to estimate the associated nominal rates of protection. These findings were then used to estimate effective rates of protection (ERPs) across 140 tradable-goods sectors in the Indonesian economy in early 2015, taking into account also the effects of the most-favoured-nation and preferential-import tariff schedules, anti-dumping and safeguard duties, export levies, duty drawbacks and exemptions, domestic sub-sidies, and excise taxes. I find that the magnitude and dispersion of ERPs were higher in 2015 than in early 2008, for which a similar study was previously conducted, and that much of the variability was related to quantitative trade restrictions. In particular, the regulations examined boosted a measure of the cost of living by 7.6% in 2015, compared with 2.5% in 2008.     

Environmental Taxation in Open Economies: Unilateralism or Partial Harmonization

There are two reasons why countries might set weak environmental policies: transboundary pollution and concerns for competitiveness. This article explores the full interactions between these two features within a unified general equilibrium framework. First, we show that competitive concerns change the structure of output taxes but not that of emission taxes. They lead to a lowering of output taxes, lower polluting good prices, an increase in emission taxes, adoption of less (or same) polluting technologies, increased aggregate emissions, and lower overall welfare levels. Second, we show that partially harmonizing commodity taxes, above their unrestricted Nash equilibrium value, can potentially hurt as well as improve the pollution technology, overall quality of the environment and welfare. The three attributes move positively together. On the other hand, harmonizing of emission taxes above their Nash equilibrium values appear to always lead to improvements in the environment and welfare via adoption of cleaner technologies.     

Rural Informal Taxation in China： Historical Evolution and an Analytic Framework

The present paper examines the historical evolution of China's rural taxation system from the pre-reform period to the late 1990s. We propose that because of information asymmetry between the upper-level and the lower-level governments, local governments had to be granted some informal tax autonomy to fulfill the upper-level policy mandates. This easily led to excessive local informal taxation on farmers. As market liberalization of the grain sector progressed, the low-cost tax instruments implemented through the traditional approach of implicit taxation gradually eroded. Local governments in agricultural regions had to resort to informal fees collected directly from individual rural households while the more industrialized regions shifted to non-agricultural taxes that are less costly in terms of tax collection. Hence, political tension between farmers and local governments in agriculture- based regions emerged and rural tax reform became necessary.     

Power to the people: working-class demand for household power in 1930s Britain

The 1930s witnessed an intense struggle between gas and electricity suppliers for the working class market, where the incumbent utility—gas—was also a reasonably efficient (and cheaper) General Purpose Technology for most domestic uses. Local monopolies for each supplier boosted substitution effects between fuel types—as alternative fuels constituted the only local competition. Using newly-rediscovered returns from a major national household expenditure survey, we employ geographically-determined instrumental variables, more commonly used in the industrial organization literature, to show that gas provided a significant competitor, tempering electricity prices, while electricity demand was also responsive to marketing initiatives.     

Economic Effects of Taxes on Exports of Palm Oil Products

In an effort to control increases in the prices of certain tradable commodities in recent years, the Indonesian government has experimented with a variety of policy interventions. Palm oil is important both as an export commodity and for household consumption in the form of cooking oil. We examine a palm oil export tax policy that ran from September 1994 through June 1997. We find that the taxes did reduce the domestic prices of palm oil products, and we estimate their effects on the distribution of income within Indonesia. Notably, we find that they actually reduced revenues of the government, and lowered profits for palm oil refiners. We also examine the efficiency effects and other aspects of the taxes. Finally, we discuss more drastic export restraints imposed more recently by the government during the economic crisis.     

房产税征管系统完善与现实把握:源自渝沪试点

现阶段,房产税在重庆和上海两市对居民住房征收的改革试点,使一些悬而未决的争论终于尘埃落定,但仍有一些值得深入思考的问题。房产税是否只是为遏制高房价而征收、是否会彻底扭转房价的上涨趋势还需要深化认识。建立与完善房产税征管系统无疑是房产税改革试点工作的当务之急;取之于房,用之于房房产税的财政投入取向,则有利于强化居民的纳税人权利意识,有助于强化居民对地方政府的财政监督和预算约束观念,进而有助于规范地方政府对房产税的征管行为,激励地方公共部门决策产生令纳税人和人民群众满意的绩效。     

Review of the report of the Committee of Enquiry into alternative marketing arrangements for maize

Problems in the maize industry induced the Minister of Agriculture to appoint a Committee of Enquiry into maize marketing arrangements. Maize and winter grains are marketed under one‐channel fixed price schemes operated by the Maize and Wheat Boards, which are statutory monopolies. Floor prices are used in sorghum marketing. The Committee recommends retention of one‐channel marketing for all grains, operating under a single selling organization. It also recommends the creation of a grain floor where buyers can negotiate with the sole selling agency, which will also control exports and imports. The proposals amount to further monopolization in grain marketing. It is argued that these proposals will induce greater inefficiency in the grain sector; the important problems will not be solved. The Committee gives attention to neither food problems of the poorer part of the population nor production problems nor cross‐subsidiation. Long— term market effects are not sufficiently addressed; nor are international developments. Scant attention is given to problems facing self‐governing and TBVC states. The proposals run counter to prevailing thought favouring deregulation, demonopolization, privatization and freer trade. The Committee report represents a lost opportunity.     

论基于税费改革的农村财务体系再造

党中央积极推行农村税费改革,减轻农民负担,而原有的农村财务体系不适应这一改革的需要。农村税费改革的主要工作,就是改进与之相关的配套政策,规范农村税费制度,理顺国家、集体、农民三者之间的分配关系,从根本上减轻农民负担,保护农村生产力,改善干群关系,并在税费改革的基础上建立健全农村财务体系,推进社会主义新农村建设。     

免征农业税以来经济欠发达地区农村所面临的问题与对策

随着农村税费改革的不断推进,在全国范围内免征农业税是"以工促农、以城带乡"的重要转折,也是突破"黄宗羲定律"的关键。结合新时期中央关于切实加强农业基础建设进一步促进农业发展农民增收的若干意见,文章重新梳理了免征农业税的重大现实意义与历史意义分析了免征农业税以来经济欠发达地区农村发展所面临的新问题并提出了相应的对策建议。     

Tax policy and reform in Asian countries: Thailand''s perspective

This paper gives overviews of Thailand's tax system covering major taxes administered by the central government and the local taxes administered by the local government. Recent tax reform experiences are discussed at length starting from the introduction of value added tax (VAT) replacing the business tax to customs tariff reform. Current issues on taxation are also highlighted ranging from tax base, direct and indirect taxation, decentralization impediments. Furthermore, the government is implementing modern and cutting-edge technology in tax administration, thereby providing effective and efficient e-government services to the Thai people. This paper discusses the Roadmap for Tax Reform that would outline the framework for future direction of taxation in Thailand. Finally, the paper gives important insights on tax issues, and draws important conclusions for the future of tax reform in Thailand.     

Analysts' Interpretation and Investors' Valuation of Tax Carryforwards*

We examine how financial analysts and equity investors incorporate information on deferred taxes from carryforwards into earnings forecasts and share prices. We focus on carryforwards because, in providing this information each period, management must use their private information about the firm's profitability prospects. Thus, accounting measurement of tax carryforwards is another way of providing a management earnings forecast. In analyzing the role of carryforwards in valuation, we distinguish between two conflicting effects. First, deferred taxes from carryforwards represent future tax savings; hence, they should be valued positively as assets. In contrast, the existence of tax carryforwards may signal a higher likelihood of future losses, which would have a negative effect on expected earnings and share prices. We find that analysts consider earnings of firms with carryforwards to be less persistent because of the increased likelihood of future losses. We also find that analysts tend to be less precise and more optimistic (biased) in forecasting earnings of firms with carryforwards. This higher optimism and lower precision are more pronounced just after firms adopt Statement of Financial Accounting Standards (SPAS) 109 and are almost entirely corrected over time. An analysis of investors' valuation indicates a strong positive relation between deferred taxes from carryforwards and share prices, suggesting that these carryforwards are valued as assets. Also, earnings and book values of equity are valued less in firms that have carryforwards than in firms without carryforwards. Finally, the valuation allowance required under SFAS 109 assists equity investors in valuing a firm's earnings and net assets. The combined findings on analysts' interpretation and investors' valuation suggest that analysts fail to fully capture the implication of carryforwards on future earnings within their forecasting horizon.     

Supply response under market liberalisation: A case study of Malawian agriculture

In order to analyse the effects of policy reforms, output supply and factor demand responses to input and output prices for Malawian agriculture are estimated in this article in a multiple-output, multiple-input framework. The implications of various structural adjustment policies implemented in Malawi are analysed using the model results for their impact on the smallholder agricultural sector. The results of the analysis indicate that removal of fertiliser subsidy – a major component of market reform policies – does not substantially reduce the production of maize, the major staple food in Malawi. However, when implemented in appropriate sequence along with other output market liberalisation policies and increased investment in infrastructure, such a policy is likely to increase the productivity of smallholder agriculture.