Why Capital Income Taxes Survive in Open Economies: The Role of Multinational Firms

This paper discusses the role of multinational firms and double taxation treaties for corporate income taxation in open economies. We show that it is optimal for a small open economy to levy positive corporate income taxes if multinational firms are taxed according to the full taxation after deduction system or the foreign tax credit system. Positive corporate taxes also occur in the asymmetric case where some countries apply the exemption system and others apply the tax credit system. If all countries apply the exemption system, the optimal corporate income tax is zero. We also show that, under tax competition, corporate income taxes are not necessarily too low from the perspective of the economy as a whole. While the undertaxation result is confirmed for the case of the exemption system, tax rates may also be inefficiently high if the deduction or the credit systems are applied.     

优化我国劳务所得课税 促进居民收入分配公平

目前,我国对劳务所得的课税项目分散、同类所得税负不同、税负普遍较重,已构成我国收入分配差距过大的诱因之一。基于此,本文借鉴西方发达国家对劳务课税的先进经验,从课税范围、费用扣除标准和税率设计等方面提出了完善我国劳务所得税制设计的政策建议。     

Capital Mobility and Source-Based Taxation of Capital Income in Small Open Economies

This paper examines the taxation of capital income in a small open economy that faces a highly elastic supply of internationally mobile capital and increasing tax competition. The analysis considers a wide variety of additional factors that affect the determination of capital income taxation policy, including the desire to tax economic rents earned by foreign and domestic firms, the desire to take advantage of any treasury transfer effects, the role played by transfer pricing and other financial accounting manipulations by foreign multinationals, the need for a backstop to the personal income tax and various political concerns. The paper evaluates several potential income and consumption-based tax reforms in this context. JEL Code: H21, H25, H87     

《企业所得税法》源泉扣缴上的几大变化

本文对"两法合并"后所得税源泉扣缴政策的重大变化进行了归纳总结:预提所得税减按10%征收;法定扣缴日期由五日变为七日;对税务机关指定扣缴新设定了三种情形;新增特定情况下的欠税追缴;非居民企业取得权益性投资收益不再免税;利息所得的免税范围有变化;转让财产所得减除项目由"原值"变为"净值"等。     

Neutral Taxation of Shareholder Income

A Norwegian tax reform committee recently proposed a personal tax on the realized income from shares after deduction for an imputed risk-free rate of return. This paper describes the design of the proposed shareholder income tax and shows that it will be neutral with respect to investment and financing decisions and decisions to realize capital gains, provided that full loss offsets are granted. Thus the tax allows some non-distortionary double taxation of corporate equity income. With an appropriate choice of tax rates, it also solves the problem of income shifting under a dual income tax. JEL Code: H24, H25     

税率调整:强化我国个人所得税收入分配调节效应的选择

个人所得税在调节收入分配上具有其他税种无法相比的优势。在我国,其收入分配调节功能却未充分发挥,甚至在一些年份出现逆调节现象。本文通过分析我国个人所得税收入分配逆调节效应的原因,认为:课税模式、费用扣除标准和税率都对个人所得税收入分配调节作用产生影响。但通过对这三者的分析,认为个人所得税税率的调整才是强化个税收入分配调节功能的重心。     

Fundamental Tax Reform in The Netherlands

The Netherlands has abolished the tax on actual personal capital income and has replaced it by a presumptive capital income tax, which is in fact a net wealth tax. This paper contrasts this wealth tax with a conventional realization-based capital gains tax, a retrospective capital gains tax with interest on the deferred tax, and a mark-to-market tax which taxes capital gains as they accrue. We conclude that the effective and neutral taxation of capital income can best be ensured through a combination of (a) a mark-to-market tax to capture the returns on easy-to-value financial products, and (b) a capital gains tax with interest to tax the returns on hard-to-value real estate and small businesses.     

Exemption vs. Credit Method in International Double Taxation Treaties

This paper examines the choice of international double taxation relief methods by two small countries that mutually exchange foreign direct investment. At the first stage, each country chooses between the exemption and the credit method (as prescribed by the OECD model treaty) and at the second stage, each country sets nationally optimal non-discriminatory capital tax rates. It is shown that in the subgame perfect equilibrium both countries choose the exemption method. Mutual application of the exemption method is also shown to yield the highest welfare for each country. While the tax export effect generally induces both countries to choose inefficiently high tax rates, this effect is weakest when both countries exempt foreign earned profits from domestic taxation.     

新个税法模式下的劳动者权益探究

"公平"是税收环节开展与劳动关系平衡的交叉范畴,依附于人身属性以获取财产性利益的劳动者在个人所得税缴纳中占主体地位,工资薪金所得更是个人所得税的丰厚税源。新个税法由"分类税制"向"分类-综合并行二税制"模式转变,以实现对横向税负公平与纵向税负适度的保障,通过劳动性所得综合征税设置、综合所得税率调整、费用扣除标准设计三个主要方面调节劳动者权益杠杆,影射出对公民权利与义务的对等性追求。新个税改革无论在个税税制模式上抑或是税率级距设置上无不体现着对中低收入群体的福利关怀。     

我国个人所得税制的功能定位和发展完善

个人所得税的功能定位首先应放在调节收入分配上,以解决目前我国现阶段收入分配严重不公的问题;其次要考虑发挥其组织财政收入的功能。改革课税模式、健全费用扣除、规范税收优惠、加强税收征管是我国个人所得税改革的应有选择。     

我国利息税税负累进程度分析——以北京地区为例

税负累进程度是指税收负担随收入数额的增加而提高的程度,它是衡量税收公平的指标.对我国现行利息税税负累进性的分析表明,当前5%的税率下,利息税的税负累进性微弱,20%的税率更能增强利息税的税负累进性.要强化利息税的公平功能,可能的政策途径有:提高利息税税率;设定起征点,采用累进税率;并入个人所得税实行合并征收;加强对利息税收入的二次分配.     

个人所得税改革对居民消费的效应评价与完善路径

当前我国居民消费不足的最主要原因在于居民收入水平不高、国民收入分配失衡,所以2018年个人所得税改革的重点是提高费用扣除标准、调整税率结构,降低纳税人负担,增加纳税人可支配收入,提高居民消费水平。要进一步促进居民消费,个人所得税有必要继续减税,同时进一步调节收入分配差距,使收入分配更加公平。具体对策包括:将专项附加扣除中的子女教育支出范围扩大为子女养育支出,增加家庭合并征税模式,费用扣除标准指数化动态调整,进一步优化税率结构,建立负所得税制度。     

Taxes

This is a compendium of notes on taxes. Section 2 presents a general tax scheme. It is a tax on value added by labour and capital that does not favour one or the other. Section 3 contrasts taxation of business income for pass-through entities and corporations. Section 4 discusses property taxes as taxes on housing services and so a form of income tax. Section 5 turns to wealth taxes. The closing Section 6 attempts to explain why people donate to nonprofits but minimise tax payments to governments, even though governments and nonprofits engage in many of the same activities.     

中美比较视域下个人所得税制演进逻辑与改革效应

美国个人所得税制历经百年发展,其税制模式、税率结构以及费用扣除等方面日臻成熟、完善,且充分体现了宏观经济和社会发展的要求,发挥了较好的财政收入和收入再分配职能。比较分析中美两国个人所得税演进逻辑及改革效应,可以看出中国个人所得税制有待完善。借鉴美国税制模式,改革与完善中国个人所得税制的方向为:逐步向"综合个人所得税制"转变;降低税率的档次和边际税率;完善费用扣除制度;加大税收征管力度等。     

Removing Homeownership Bias in Taxation: The Distributional Effects of Including Net Imputed Rent in Taxable Income

The income tax systems of most countries entail a favourable treatment of homeownership, compared to rental‐occupied housing. Such ‘homeownership bias’ and its consequences for a wide range of economic outcomes have long been recognised in the economic literature. Although a removal of the homeownership bias is generally advocated on efficiency grounds, its distributional implications are often neglected, especially in a cross‐country perspective. In this paper, we aim to fill this gap by investigating the first‐order effects, in terms of distribution of income and work incentives, of removing the income tax provisions favouring homeownership. We consider six European countries – Belgium, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands and the UK – that exhibit important variation in terms of income tax treatment of homeowners. Using the multi‐country tax benefit model EUROMOD, we analyse the distributional consequences of including net imputed rent in the taxable income definition that applies in each country, together with the removal of existing special tax treatments of incomes or expenses related to the main residence; thus, we provide a measure of the homeownership bias. We implement three tax policy scenarios. In the first, imputed rent is included in the taxable income of homeowners, while at the same time existing mortgage interest tax relief schemes and taxation of cadastral incomes are abolished. In the two further revenue‐neutral scenarios, the additional tax revenue raised through the taxation of imputed rent is redistributed to taxpayers, through either a tax rate reduction or a tax exemption increase. The results show how including net imputed rent in the tax base might affect inequality in each of the countries considered. Housing taxation appears to be a promising avenue for raising additional revenues, or lightening taxation of labour, with no inequality‐increasing side effects.     

A SIMPLER CONSUMPTION-BASED ALTERNATIVE TO THE INCOME TAX FOR SOCIALIST ECONOMIES IN TRANSITION

The tax systems of socialist economies in transition will distortresource allocation, create inequities, and cause administrativeheadaches if not reformed. These countries have weak tax administrations,lack experience with mass taxes based on voluntary compliance,and need to encourage domestic saving and foreign investment.This article suggests an alternative to the conventional incometax that is more suited to these conditions. Attempting to tax real economic income raises complicated timingissues (when to recognize income and allow deductions) and mayrequire complex adjustments for inflation. The simplified alternativetax (SAT) avoids these complications and provides a generalincentive for saving and investment less subject to abuse ordistortions than tax holidays and other tax gimmicks in voguein countries emerging from socialism. The key elements of the SAT are separate taxes on income fromlabor and capital, immediate deduction for all business expenditures,no deduction for interest, and no taxation of interest or dividends.(Interest could be treated as under an income tax, at some cost.)Although the marginal effective tax rate is zero, the governmentshares in extraordinary returns to investment. The article discussespotential problems (including distributional implications, taxlosses, and foreign tax credits) as well as advantages of theSAT.      

From the global income tax to the dual income tax: Recent tax reforms in the Nordic countries

The paper discusses the recent drive toward a system of dual income taxation (DIT) in the Nordic countries. The pure version of this system combines progressive taxation of labor and transfer incomes with a proportional tax on income from capital at a level equal to the corporate income tax rate. The paper considers the motives for the introduction of this new income tax system, ranging from abstract theoretical arguments to very pragmatic considerations. While the Nordic DIT system violates the principles of the conventional personal income tax, it is argued that it may in fact be more in line with the philosophy of a true Haig-Simons comprehensive income tax. It is also suggested that the DIT system may cause fewer distortions to resource allocation than the conventional income tax. On the debit side, the paper points out several practical problems of taxing income from small enterprises under the differentiated income tax.     

“两税合一”对台湾上市公司股利税资本化的影响

本文以1994～2001年两税合一税制实施前后的台湾上市公司为样本，运用Harris-Kemsley股利税后收益模型，探讨所得税制改革对权益投资者收益的影响，以及两税合一税制的实施对股利税资本化的影响。实证结果表明：两税合一税制实施前，台湾上市公司的末分配盈余与其股利税资本化程度负相关，即股利税资本化效果存在；两税合一税制实施后，台湾上市公司的股利税资本化程度低于两税合一前的程度。     

新旧企业所得税制度的差异比较

从2008年1月1日起,我国的企业所得税制度合二为一。新的企业所得税制度与原制度相比,在纳税人、纳税义务、税率、收入、扣除、资产的税务处理、应纳税所得额的计算、境外所得税收抵免、税收优惠和反避税管理等方面均有突出的变化,标志着新制度更具有科学性、规范性和国际性,对推进我国社会主义市场经济建设,促进改革开放和社会主义和谐社会的建立都具有深远的意义。     

权衡中的创新——双元所得税评介

双元所得税是与综合所得税、单一税并列的一种个人所得税的主要模式,其特征为双元税基、双元税率和限制优惠。双元所得税的优点是兼顾了税收收入和国际竞争力、兼顾了效率和一定程度的收入再分配、避免了对资本的重复课税、降低了由于通货膨胀带来的对资本所得的过度课税、简化了税制。双元所得税契合了北欧各国社会经济状况对税制的要求,因此,成为北欧国家个人所得税的首选模式。