Regulatory performance of audit tournaments and compliance observability

This paper examines the effectiveness of traditional regulatory schemes and newly emerging social information schemes for achieving compliance. Our experiment focuses on two stochastic audit schemes for enforcing regulatory compliance. In the Random Audit mechanism firms are randomly chosen for inspection. In the Tournament Audit mechanism the probability of inspection increases with the degree of estimated underreporting. To study the effects of social information, the experiment varies the observability of identity, output, and compliance decisions. Optimal output is theoretically independent of the auditing scheme, but equilibrium reporting is higher under the Tournament mechanism than Random auditing. Experimental findings are broadly consistent with the theoretical predictions for reporting, but deviate modestly for output. In particular, we find that average output is lower and reporting is higher in the Tournament treatment compared to the Random Audit treatment. At the individual level, a majority of participants misreported in most periods. Social observability does not affect output or reporting significantly in either of the audit treatments.     

Stated Willingness-to-Pay for Organic Fruit and Pesticide Ban

Abstract

Income growth in highly industrialised countries has resulted in consumer choice of foodstuffs no longer being primarily influenced by basic factors such as price and organoleptic features. From this perspective, the present study sets out to evaluate how and to what extent consumer choice is influenced by the possible negative effects on health and environment caused by the consumption of fruit containing deposits of pesticides and chemical products.

The study describes the results of a survey which explores and estimates consumer willingness to pay in two forms: a yearly contribution for the abolition of the use of pesticides on fruit, and a premium price for organically grown apples guaranteed by a certified label. The same questionnaire was administered to two samples. The first was a conventional face-to-face survey of customers of large retail outlets located around Bologna (Italy); the second was an Internet sample. The discrete choice data were analysed by means of probit and tobit models to estimate the utility consumers attribute to organically grown fruit and to a pesticide ban. The research also addresses questions of validity and representativeness as a fundamental problem in web-based surveys.     

Book Reviews

The evaluative function of local public actors has been exacerbated in recent years with the individualisation of social policies. One of their tasks is to select the appropriate informational basis in order to assess welfare claimants. Amartya Sen's capability approach offers a theoretical and normative framework to analyse this evaluative function. In particular, it insists on the importance of “objectivating” people's preferences with reference to their capabilities. The weight that is to be attached to individual preferences in the course of public action can be a matter of controversy. Claimants “capability for voice”, we argue, should be developed. This capability refers to their effective possibility to express their concerns with regard to the choice of the informational basis. It is argued that local institutions prohibiting capability for voice will produce adaptive preferences, whereas procedural institutions promoting reflexive public evaluation and capability for voice will result in a fairer wording of individual preferences. At a situated level, the way to connect subjective and objective information when assessing people very much depends on the position of the evaluator. Several illustrations show that the fairness of evaluation, and its impact on the people's capability set, depend on this positional perspective.     

从发票管理角度看我国当前税收流失状况及改善措施

目前，全球金融危机对我国的影响还未见底。实施积极财政政策扩大内需，增强经济抵抗力和竞争力，确保持续增长是未来的艰巨任务。作为一系列重大举措的支撑力量，税收成为财政工作的关键一环。全面加强征收管理，减少税收流失是确保积极财政政策顺利推行的前提之一。本文围绕我国税收征管工作中的发票管理环节展开，分析了发票管理漏洞使税收流失加剧的现状，并提出了改善发票管理的若干措施。     

我国进行国际税收竞争的最优战略与策略分析

本文依据国际税收竞争对我国的积极意义以及我国是发展中大国的战略定位,认为我国应该采取"积极、适度竞争,理性、必要协调"的战略;在竞争策略的选择上,通过对我国主要资本来源国对待本国资本海外投资的规定以及竞争对手国吸引外资相关做法的研究,提出我国应选择"低税率、宽税基、少优惠"的竞争方式和手段,并应注重形成有比较竞争力的税收制度,而不应进行频繁的政策调整.     

Which Elasticity? Estimating the Responsiveness of Taxpayer Reporting Decisions

In this paper we present estimates of the responses of individuals to marginal tax rates in their reporting of income, using data from individual tax returns for the year 1995. One estimation method is ordinary least squares regression. A second method uses quantile regression, which provides evidence on behavioral responses at different points (or quantiles) in the distribution of income and so is relevant to the question of whether the responses of, say, the rich differ from those at other points in the income distribution. Our results clearly indicate that marginal tax rates affect the reporting decisions of individuals. However, there are significant differences in the marginal tax rate reporting responses for the various types of reported income, there are major differences across income classes, and there are notable differences in the estimated responses across estimation methods.

农业税改对东营农村经济影响分析

自实施农业税制改革以来,山东省东营市认真贯彻国家各项农业税制改革政策,于2005年全部免除农业税,大力加强财政支农和金融支农力度,有力地促进了社会主义新农村建设。本文从东营市入手深入调查研究了我国农业税制改革对该市农村经济所带来的积极影响与负面作用,并进一步分析了金融、财政在支持“三农”过程中所存在的问题,最后提出了对策、建议。     

行政复议前置、税法确定性与税收治理现代化

行政复议前置的制度功能之一是保障税法确定性,这是税收治理现代化的内在要求。在税务法院全面设立以前,在专业机构完成税收争议的初次处理能够保障税法的统一解释与适用,提升税法的确定性。行政复议前置不仅可以将事实认定功能留给行政机关,让法院(无论是否设立税务法庭)能专事法律问题,而且在税制改革的背景下,能发挥过滤争议数量和争议焦点的作用,提高税收救济制度的效率。这种立场,并不损害纳税人的权利,相反保护了抽象和整体意义上的纳税人权利。     

优化营商环境的财税政策研究——以江苏省为例

近年来,江苏财政部门积极支持营商环境建设,贯彻落实减税降费政策,采取设立风险补偿资金池、引导社会资本投资、设立支持企业发展的奖补资金等举措,在优化营商环境方面取得一定成效,但在政策执行过程中还存在一些不足,如部分行业税负可能上升、无定价权的企业在税制改革中获益相对较少、减税降费"降成本"效应下降等,针对实际工作中存在的问题,还需要进一步增强"降成本"政策的协调性,采取完善增值税抵扣机制等措施。     

客户偏好指标和银行渠道使用对应分析研究

随着商业银行竞争的日趋激烈,银行营销渠道在其经营发展中地位日益明显。由于不同渠道其服务范围和条件、成本和效益有明显的区别,同时,客户不同的行为偏好对于不同渠道的应用也存在差异,所以,商业银行客户偏好分析就成为银行渠道发展策略的首要任务和出发点。在介绍相关理论基础上,建立商业银行客户偏好分析的框架,提出了客户偏好分析指标体系,最终利用实际调研数据对客户偏好指标和银行渠道进行分析,得到偏好指标和渠道之间的对应关系,对国内商业银行如何利用客户偏好分析方法实施差异化策略提出方法和建议。