“税收痛苦指数”的理论错误与反思

近年来,美国福布斯杂志推出了"税收痛苦指数"排名。该方法在税前扣除费用、税制结构、税率结构方面存在严重理论错误,分析了这些错误,并从宏观税负与"税收痛苦"的关系、专款专用税的权益性等方面驳斥了我国税负高的观点,最后就我国税收宣传方式与方法、财税体制完善等方面提出一些建议。     

Input versus output taxation in an experimental international economy

This paper presents the results of a policy oriented macroeconomic experiment involving an ‘international’ economy with a relatively small ‘home’ country and a large ‘foreign’ country. It compares the economic performance of two alternative tax systems: a wage tax system and a sales-tax-cum-labor-subsidy system. The two systems are applied to the small country, while the wage tax system always obtains in the large country. The main result is that the sales tax system outperforms the wage tax system, using standard economic indicators. Moreover, it turns out that under the sales tax system economic activities appear to be moving toward the ‘better’ of two theoretical equilibria. It is argued that producers’ reluctance to incur costs up-front while being uncertain about product prices can explain these results. Several pieces of evidence are provided to support this claim. The results strongly suggest that behavioral aspects should be taken into account also in applied macroeconomic models.     

Comparative fiscal illusion: a fiscal illusion index for the European Union

This paper provides an empirical analysis of fiscal illusion by estimating an index of fiscal illusion for 28 European countries over the period 1995–2008 employing a structural equation approach. Using Multiple Indicators Multiple Causes models, the paper investigates the main indicators of fiscal illusion and develops an index of fiscal illusion. It concludes that the chief determinants for the deployment of fiscal illusion strategies are the share of self-employment on total employment, the educational level of citizens, and the size of tax burden. At the same time, policy makers attempt to ‘conceal’ the real tax burden by means of debt illusion, fiscal drag, wage withholding taxes, as well as taxes on labour.     

企业税负、虚拟经济发展与工业企业金融化——来自A股上市公司的证据

税收负担是否成为倒逼实体经济企业向金融投资领域进军的重要动因？虚拟经济发展在企业税负与企业金融化之间的关联效应如何？本文使用2010—2016年A股工业企业财务数据进行实证研究，结果表明：（1）微观税负能显著提高工业企业金融资产配置水平；（2）相较于国有企业，非国有企业税收负担的金融化效应更为明显；（3）虚拟经济发展将放大税负水平对企业金融化的正向作用。     

持续经济增长目标下的最优税负和税收结构调整

在经济持续增长目标下,通过识别宏观税负与经济增长的计量关系,我国最优宏观税负应为16.47%。这低于实际宏观税负水平,需要进行较大幅度的减税。根据税收影响经济增长的渠道,通过核算行业TFP,促进长期增长条件下的税收结构调整需要重点降低营业税。     

What policies to combat labour informality? Evidence from Mexico

Informality often concerns policymakers due to its negative implications on productivity and poverty. In recent years, the extent of informal employment has diverged across Mexican states. Varying informal employment dynamics within a comparable institutional environment offers scope to identify policies that can reduce informality. This paper uses cross-state panel and individual data to examine the determinants of informal employment, exploiting the diverging outcomes across states, industries and time. The results suggest that there is no ‘silver bullet’ to combat informality, yet a package of policies promoting labour skills, encouraging foreign investment, enhancing tax enforcement and deterring corruption can reduce informal employment. Intriguingly, reducing the cost to start a business is found to have a non-linear effect on informal employment, conditional on the prevalence of microenterprises.     

Effects of tax benefits on the price elasticity of charitable contributions in South Korea

Using South Korean panel data from 2008 to 2019 and censored quantile regression method, this study calculates the effects of different tax incentives on charitable contributions. We observe price elasticity under two different tax-benefit systems in South Korea and find that, first, taxpayers tend to be more sensitive to tax incentives under a tax deduction system than a tax credit system. The price elasticity gap between a tax deduction and tax credit is approximately −2.3 to −1.0. Second, we show the existence of heterogeneity in taxpayers’ behaviour: the price elasticity of charitable contributions exhibits a convex shape, where more significant donors have lesser reactions to tax incentives. We further show that socioeconomic contexts, such as income, gender, marital status, and education, affect people's attitudes. In sum, the results are as expected: tax deductions work more efficiently than tax credits.     

Tax Reform,Structural Unemployment and the Environment

The effects of environmental tax reform, i.e., using the proceeds of a higher energy tax rate to lower the labour tax rate, on wage formation, employment and environmental quality are analysed in the context of a small open economy with structural unemployment caused by hiring costs. We find that such a reform may boost employment if it shifts the tax burden away from workers towards those without employment in the formal sector. Environmental tax reform succeeds in shifting the tax burden away from workers in the formal sector if higher energy taxes reduce earnings in the informal sector by reducing labour productivity.     

我国宏观税负构成的分析与调整

宏观税负率是衡量一个国家宏观税负水平高低的一个重要指标，本文结合我国实际情况，充分考虑收收收入及非税收入的共同作用，对我国从1994年以来不断上升的宏观税负水平加以分析。文章以宏观税负的内部构成为出发点，通过回归模型总结出宏观税负上升的内部原因，用以找到进行合理税制调整的方向。     

Fiscal policy,government debt,and economic growth in the Kaleckian model of growth and distribution

This article presents the Kaleckian model of growth and distribution that sets a budget deficit ratio as an indicator of fiscal policy and examines the short- and long-run effects of an increase in budget deficits and a rise in income tax rates on the economy. The key short-run outcomes are as follows. First, expanded budget deficits have a positive effect on the rate of capacity utilization. Second, the tax rate for wage income does not affect the rate of capacity utilization, whereas the tax rate for capital income has a favorable impact on it. This result implies that raising the tax rate for capital income can be an important policy instrument for stimulating the economy. Third, we find that the economy exhibits a wage-led aggregate demand in the short run. The main long-run results are as follows. First, the effect of expanded budget deficits on the growth rate is ambiguous, since a higher debt burden negatively influences the rate of capacity utilization and hence economic growth, despite the increase in demand caused by government borrowing. A higher budget deficit ratio thus raises the growth rate only if a certain condition is satisfied. Second, the tax rate for capital income has a positive impact on the growth rate. Third, the economy shows a wage-led growth in the long run.     

The experience of some OECD economies on tax smoothing

Observed random walk behaviour of a tax rate does not necessarily support the tax smoothing hypothesis though the latter implies the former. This article presents a direct test of tax smoothing by showing that if the tax smoothing hypothesis holds then the future tax rate should cointegrate with the current permanent government expenditure rate even though the tax rate is a random walk. This test is a direct and robust test of a number of ‘random walk models’ available in the literature. This procedure also enables us to differentiate among ‘strong tax smoothing’, ‘weak tax smoothing’ and ‘no-tax smoothing’, all of which are consistent with the random walk behaviour of a tax rate. Application of this test to Australia, Canada, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the UK and the US show evidence in support of weak forms of tax smoothing.     

增值税转型改革的效应评价——基于安徽省经验数据的实证分析

增值税转型引起增值税实际税率下降和税负降低,而增值税的税负降低必然导致经济运行发生变化.基于增值税转型所产生的投资效应、财政收入效应和安徽省的经验数据,实证检验了增值税转型对企业固定资产投资和财政收入的影响.结果显示:增值税转型具有投资正效应和财政收入负效应.即增值税转型促进了安徽省企业的固定资产投资增加,但导致了其财政收入减少.     

Road tax interactions among local governments: a spatial panel data analysis of the French case over the period 1984–2000

This article contributes to the literature on local tax interactions. Its novelty lies in its focus on the interactions of local governments via an indirect local tax on vehicles such as the road tax sticker and its analysis of interactions between direct and indirect local taxation. The main purpose of this article is to provide an empirical analysis of the reaction of road tax policy in a given French ‘department’ to changes in road tax policy in other ‘departments’. The analysis uses a novel panel data set covering the 96 French metropolitan ‘departments’ for the period from 1984 to 2000. First, the results confirm the presence of significant spatial interactions between French ‘departments’ due to the road tax sticker. Second, the estimation results also show that the business tax rate and/or the property tax rate on developed land are complements to the road tax sticker, whereas the residence tax rate and/or the property tax rate on undeveloped land are substitutes to the road tax instrument. Finally, I find that ‘departments’ with a larger, younger and older population set higher rates for the road tax sticker. The results are robust regarding alternative weight matrices.     

基于面板数据的地方税收与经济差异性研究

由于地方政府与中央政府博弈造成的效率损失,名义税负与实际税负的错位使得地方税收的主体税种对地方经济的影响各异。营业税对地方经济发展有较强的正效应,而企业所得税则对地方经济增长产生了抑制作用,且在三大区域存在不同的效应。     

A general proposition on the design of a neutral business tax

A simple and general means of levying a business tax that is ‘neutral’ in the sense that it does not affect the firm's decisions at the margin is discussed. In particular, we analyze the effect of a business tax of our design on the investment decision of the firm. The well-known ‘imputed income’ and ‘immediate write-off’ methods of levying a neutral business tax are found to be special cases of our general tax design. The implication of our results is that a neutral ‘pure profits’ tax can be levied without the informational difficulties of the imputed income method or the cash flow disadvantages of the immediate write-off method.     

我国不同地区宏观税负差异分析

税收负担适度与否不仅关系到国家能够集中的财力,而且涉及到纳税人的正常生产生活。为了使我国区域经济协调发展,缩小地区间的税负差异是非常必要的。     

增值税扩围改革有助于减轻服务业税负吗?——基于投入产出表的分析

增值税扩围改革对服务业行业流转税负担的影响同时包含"税率提高的增税效应"与"进项抵扣的减税效应"。利用投入产出表数据分析并测算增值税扩围改革影响各服务业行业流转税负变动的净效应,结果发现:不同服务业行业的税负变化情况差异较大,商务服务业等大多数行业的税负将减轻,但租赁业等部分行业的税负会加重,税改后的增值税税率水平选择与中间投入比率是影响服务业行业税负变动的主要因素。为了优化服务业发展的税收环境,使增值税扩围改革有助于减轻服务业的流转税负,应根据税负平衡点审慎选择服务业行业税改后适用的增值税税率。当前制定的租赁业、交通运输业的试点税率水平偏高,有必要予以降低。     

我国现行证券税制及其功能完善

良好的证券税制不仅是证券市场优化资源配置功能的重要制度保障,而且其本身就是完善资本市场的重要组成部分.本文通过对中国证券税制的制度功能进行反思,认为当前以证券交易印花税为主体税种的单一税制不仅难以保证足够的财政收入,更无助于增进市场效率和维护社会公平.因此,提出在保证较低整体税负的前提下,构建科学合理的复合税制体系.     

中国税制的国际竞争力研究

国际税收竞争是经济全球化发展的产物,是各国以税收为载体、以促进本国经济增长为目的的竞争,其实质是经济竞争。在此,基于国际税收竞争视角,重点对中国税制的国际竞争力进行评析,分析表明中国税制具有一定的国际竞争力,但诸多方面仍有待完善。在此基础上,借鉴国际经验建立具有竞争性的中国税制,确定合理的宏观税负水平,同时还需加强"税收文化"的建设,建立国际税收协调机制,以应对日益激烈的国际税收竞争。     

Second-best optimal taxation of capital and labor in a developing economy

As commercial integration reduces the reliance on foreign trade taxation, raising tax revenue has become a major concern for the governments of developing economies. This paper examines how the tax burden in a developing economy should be distributed between capital income and labor income. We study a two-sector model, where the traditional sector is “informal” and consequently cannot be taxed by the government. In this setup, we find that the optimal (second-best) tax structure in order to raise a certain amount of revenue requires to tax capital income at least as much as labor income, and possibly more.