The Elasticity of Taxable Income: The Case of South Africa

A key tax policy parameter that has received much attention in the international literature, but about which there is substantial uncertainty, is the overall elasticity of taxable income. The size of this parameter is central to the formulation of tax and transfer policy, as well as for the study of the welfare implications of tax decisions. This paper uses a panel of individual tax returns for the period 2009–2013 and the phenomenon of “bracket creep” to construct instrumental variable estimates of the sensitivity of income to changes in tax rates. Estimates suggest that the overall elasticity of taxable income is approximately 0.3, while that of broad income is significantly lower. The overall response is primarily driven by the elastic response of taxable income for high‐income earners, who have an elasticity of closer to 0.4. Using the elasticity estimates within an optimal tax framework, it is determined that the optimal marginal tax rate for the top 10% of income earners is broadly in line with the current income tax schedule. However, results also suggest that there is little scope for raising marginal rates on high‐income earners further without inducing a negative revenue response.     

Taxes and firm investment

We investigate the firm-level investment response to unanticipated narrative shocks to average personal and corporate tax rates using a universal micro dataset of publicly-traded U.S. firms for the post-1976 period. Using local projections, we show that: (i) corporate tax shocks have significant effects on investment while personal tax shocks do not; (ii) corporate income tax responses are negative overall, and this result is driven by smaller firms who face larger borrowing constraints, especially when the accompanying monetary policy is contractionary or output gap is slack; (iii) there is some evidence of positive personal income tax responses during monetary contractions by dividend-paying firms, which is consistent with the recent literature.     

Marketed tax avoidance: an economic analysis∗

Recent years have witnessed the growth of mass-marketed tax avoidance schemes aimed at the middle (not top) of the income distribution, with significant implications for tax revenue. We examine the consequences for the structure of income tax, and for tax authority anti-avoidance efforts, of tax avoidance of this type. In a model that allows for both demand- and supply-side considerations, we find that: there is an endogenous threshold income below which taxpayers do not avoid, and above which they avoid maximally; the per-dollar price of tax avoidance is decreasing in income under progressive taxation; endogenous adjustments in the price of avoidance make supply less responsive to anti-avoidance activity than thought previously; and avoidance may drive a non-monotone relationship between tax rates and tax revenue. These findings suggest that new approaches to anti-avoidance, beyond legal enforcement, might be needed.     

终极控制权性质与公司绩效——基于配对样本的实证检验

本文基于终极控制权理论考察终极控制权性质对公司绩效的影响。研究发现:在非保护性行业中,在控制公司规模、行业、上市地点、财务杠杆、治理因素以及上年度业绩的情况下,民营终极控制权的上市公司业绩显著高于非民营上市公司。在保护性行业中,国有控制权与民营控制权对公司业绩的影响无显著差异。本文提供了终极控制权性质与公司绩效的系统性经验证据,对于继续进行民营化改革的政策制定与监管具有一定的参考价值。     

关于企业税收流失与涉税人员的关系分析

对企业方面的税收流失与会计人员、企业负责人、税务人员、行政长官及社会监督人员的关系进行分析 ,提出税收流失重点在于预防 ,关键在于提高全体社会成员的税收意识 ,最终实现税收流失的源泉控制。     

浅谈促进企业年金保险发展的税收政策

企业年金是我国多层次养老保险体系的一个重要组成部分。本文从税收制度对企业年金保险的作用出发，结合我国现阶段企业年金保险税收制度的现状及存在的问题，从完善税惠制度、明确税惠模式以及税惠资格认定等方面提出了改进建议。     

对构建我国所得税会计准则相关问题的探讨

构建高质量的所得税会计准则既要考虑所得税会计准则国际化的策略,又要注意协调与相关会计标准的关系.论文在对所得税事项的实质及其财务影响进行剖析的基础上,探讨了我国所得税会计准则的目标、原则;在对相关因素进行分析、权衡的基础上,对所得税会计准则的定位、会计方法选择提出明确意见.这些问题不仅涉及所得税会计准则的主要内容,而且关系到所得税会计准则的质量.     

论税收政策及其政策目标与政策手段的选择

税收政策是政府社会经济政策的重要组成部分 ,税收政策的运用 ,主要取决于税收政策目标和税收政策手段的选择。从税收政策、税收政策目标及其税收政策手段的内涵及抉择条件入手 ,对现阶段我国税收政策目标的确定、税收政策手段的选择路径提出若干建议     

增值税转型对企业固定资产投资影响的实证研究

增值税已经成为我国财政收入来源的第一大税种,2004年我国选择率先在东北地区进行增值税转型试点。增值税转型是否增加了企业的固定资产投资,是否促进了东北地区的经济发展以及转型是否达到了预期的目的?本文在收集大量试点单位资料的基础上,借助数学模型,对增值税转型对企业固定资产的投资影响这一现实问题进行了实证分析。     

民间借贷政策规制的社会福利效应：一个分析框架

本文通过构建一个民间借贷规制模型来分析需求弹性和行政执法成本对规制效率的影响。模型表明：在民间借贷缺乏需求弹性时,由于高昂的禁令规制成本,对政府而言更为合适的手段是将民间借贷采取合法化、并加以征税的规制政策。在我国,除了通过“民间借贷服务中心”等机构创新来实现民间金融规范化以外,更主要地是打破金融机构市场准入高度管控的体制,允许民间资本进入金融业,使民间金融机构合法化。