低碳农业：金融支农的新视角

温室气体的增加、极端气候和自然灾害的频繁出现对农业发展的不利影响越来越凸显出来,农业作为温室气体的第二大重要排放源,必须实现从高碳向低碳的转变。当前在农村金融的发展中对低碳农业的认识还刚刚起步,应从政策导向、转变观念、金融产品创新等方面着手,把低碳农业作为金融支农的新视角。     

税负归宿问题研究趋势与展望

从西方财政学的视角来看,要确定某项税收的归宿到底有多少,是一个非常复杂和困难的问题,也正因为如此,在西方财政学及公共经济学领域,税负归宿理论的研究一直吸引着众多学者为之付出不懈的努力,本文对西方各大学派的税负归宿（Incidence Tax）思想进行了梳理和总结。在此基础上,对我国近年来的税负归宿理论思想进行分析,通过国内外对比研究,揭示国内研究的局限性,并在此基础上提出研究展望。     

税收风险管理关键绩效指标评价体系的构建及应用

税收风险管理绩效评价贯穿于税收风险管理工作的全过程,能确保税收风险管理制度得到有效执行,并能不断完善税收风险管理的工作流程。将关键绩效指标法应用于税收风险管理绩效评价工作,对税收风险管理进行全流程、全方位的评价,构建税收风险管理关键绩效指标评价体系,有助于提高税收风险管理能力和水平,全面实现以风险管理为导向的现代化税收征管体系。     

Tax system and informal economy: a cross-country analysis

This article analyses determinants of informal economy. By using qualitative aspects of tax systems, first, we create a ‘Smithian’ tax system index based on Adam Smith’s four maxims. Then, using this index and other control variables, we study determinants of informal economy. We use unique panel data set that is constructed by using various sources. After taking into account the endogeneity of tax burden and GDP per capita, our results show that ‘Smithian’ tax system index does not significantly affect informal economy. Our results suggest that rule of law, complexity of a tax system and tax burden affect informal economy negatively, while labour market regulations affect positively.     

The hard shadow of the Greek economy: new estimates of the size of the underground economy and its fiscal impact

This article presents new estimates of the Greek underground economy and explores the link between the underground economy and aggregate debt. We show that the Greek underground economy has been underestimated heavily and has been on a rising trend again since Greece adopted the Euro. We also present evidence that the size of the underground economy is positively related to the debt-to-GDP ratio, implying that fighting the underground economy is also conducive to financial and macroeconomic stability. Our results suggest that for our sample of 11 EMU member countries, the loss of the inflation tax as an economic policy instrument had drastic consequences. While the underground economy did not have a statistically significant impact on aggregate debt before the introduction of the Euro, it has pushed up the debt-to-GDP ratio in our sample since.     

Did FIN 48 increase companies’ tax payments? Trade-off between disclosure and tax burdens

This article examines the effects of implementing FIN 48 on companies’ tax burdens. While the literature examines how FIN 48 impacts companies’ financial reporting, its effect on tax payments has not yet been explored. We find that FIN 48 likely increased larger companies’ tax burdens. Prior to the adoption of FIN 48, larger companies may have used their asymmetric information advantage over the tax authorities to maintain relatively aggressive tax positions. To the extent that such tax-saving strategies were possible only for larger companies, FIN 48 appears to have reduced the appeal of these more aggressive tax minimization strategies.     

Is there a case for carbon-based border tax adjustment? An applied general equilibrium analysis

Concern that unilateral Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emission reductions could foster carbon leakage and undermine the international competitiveness of domestic industry has led to growing calls for carbon-based Border-Tax Adjustments (BTAs). This article uses a global general equilibrium model to assess the economic effects of BTAs and comes to three main conclusions. First, BTAs can reduce carbon leakage if the coalition of countries taking action to reduce GHG emissions is small, because in this case leakage (while typically small) mainly occurs through international trade competitiveness losses rather than through declines in world fossil fuel prices. Second, even though the economic effects of BTAs vary somewhat depending on how they are implemented, their welfare impact is typically small, and slightly negative at the world level. Third, and perhaps more strikingly, BTAs do not necessarily curb the output losses incurred by the domestic Energy Intensive-Industries (EIIs) they are intended to protect in the first place. This is in part because EIIs in industrialized countries make important use of carbon-intensive intermediate inputs produced by EIIs in other geographical areas. Another, deeper explanation is that EIIs are ultimately more adversely affected by the existence of a carbon price itself than by any international competitiveness losses. These findings are shown to be robust to key model parameters, country coverage, targets and design features of BTAs.     

How may a carbon tax transform Australian electricity industry? A CGE analysis

The carbon tax policy proposed by Australian government has triggered deep concerns about the high electricity prices facing households and the sustainability of electricity industry. By employing a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model and an environmentally extended Social Accounting Matrix (SAM), this article simulates the effect of Australian carbon tax on the electricity industry. The modelling results show that the wholesale electricity prices indeed increase by about 90%, but the retailer prices only increase by 25%. The coal-fired electricity generators will reduce their output by 8% (for black-coal) to 18% (for brown-coal), but the profitability of the industry will drop dramatically. On the other hand, generators using oil, gas or renewable resources, will increase their output significantly and enjoy a handsome profit. Through the price, cost and profitability mechanisms, the carbon tax will transfer the Australian electricity generation to a low emission industry in the long term.     

A spatial model of corporate tax incidence

Using a unique, self-compiled data-set on international tax rates, we explore the link between taxes and manufacturing wages for a panel of 66 countries over 25 years. We find, controlling for other macroeconomic variables, that wages are significantly responsive to corporate taxation. Higher corporate tax rates depress wages. Using spatial modelling techniques, we also find that tax characteristics of neighbouring countries, whether geographic or economic, have a significant effect on domestic wages. We test for, and reject, spatial autocorrelation in our model using a modification of the Moran-I test statistic that accounts for country-specific fixed effects in a panel data setting. Our article fits in with the new economic geography literature as well as the urban economics literature which attempt to explain the spatial distribution of wages.     

Puerto Rico in the 1970s and 1980s: Crisis of the Development Model

In his institutional economic essay on "Taxation in Chicago and Philadelphia" (published in 1895) John R. Commons addresses property tax assessment. He demonstrates that the revenue is not just a question of the tax rate and the distribution of the tax burden but also one of constitutional requirements and how the taxes are assessed. His essay is reviewed with regard to his later work, subsequent Institutional Economics, and the social provisioning of the market for professional tax advice. The degree of liabilities is defining characteristics of the differences between the United States and Germany.