Accelerated Depreciation and Income Growth

This paper challenges the belief that accelerated depreciation methods are always superior to the straight-line method—especially for low-tax bracket owners of highly leveraged investments who have prospects for income growth. The root of the problem is our highly progressive income tax structure and the nature of loan amortization schedules which increase a debtor's taxable income while decreasing his net cash flows. When the entire personal and corporate tax schedules are used to test alternative depreciation methods, our simulation results demonstrate that the much maligned straight-line method is optimal for suitably low discount rates.     

我国工薪所得个人所得税费用扣除标准的评价及动态测算模型的构建

工薪所得个人所得税费用扣除标准应以某年城镇居民最高收入家庭每一就业者负担的月消费性支出作为衡量指标,并充分考虑家庭人口和物价变动因素。通过计算1996年~2007年城镇居民家庭全国及分组每一就业者负担的月消费性支出,并对照2005年以来的两次工薪所得个人所得税费用扣除标准调整情况,发现两次调整均存在一定滞后性和扣除不足性,影响了居民的消费支出。在充分考虑家庭人口和物价变动因素条件下,通过构建我国工薪所得个人所得税费用扣除标准动态测算模型,测算结果是,我国2009年、2010年和2011年工薪所得个人所得税费用扣除标准比较的合理数值分别应为2,500元、2,650元和2,850元。     

Minimum Tax,Recapture and Choice of Depreciation Methods*

This paper examines the problem of the trade-off between the possible minimum tax consequences of accelerated depreciation, the recapture of excess depreciation, and the choice of depreciation methods for maximizing investor wealth. The model is simulated for various ranges of the inputs to which the depreciation selection decision is sensitive. The results indicate that for high marginal tax rates, reasonably long holding periods, and reasonably high discount rates, the investor should select the accelerated methods after considering the minimum tax and recapture consequences.     

固定资产处理在会计和税法上的异同

由于固定资产是企业生存、发展的基础,它的计价与核算对会计利润、所得税的影响相当大.会计利润根据《企业会计制度》的规定对固定资产进行折旧计提,在计算企业应交所得税时,则根据《企业所得税前扣除办法》的规定进行核算.所以为了更好地了解有必要对财务会计和所得税会计在固定资产处理方面比较异同.     

PER UNIT COST ALLOCATION OF INVESTED CAPITAL WITH ANTICIPATED NON-LEVEL PRODUCTION: THE CASE OF EXTRACTIVE INDUSTRIES

The concept of equivalent annual annuity (EAA) has long been used as a method of costing recovery of invested capital and the required return on invested capital over the productive life of a capital project. Academic texts almost universally use EAA methodology with level payment streams (annuities) to allocate capital costs. We develop a methodology for allocating capital costs evenly over each unit of production for projects with anticipated non-level production. This methodology uses a modified EAA approach that allows non-level annuity payment streams. Capital cost allocation is an important component in computing the value of extracted minerals for severance tax purposes; however, many firms and state and federal agencies use ad hocdepreciation schedules to allocate these costs. Ad hocdepreciation methods such as modified accelerated cost recovery system (MACRS) may be appropriate for income tax purposes but are inconsistent with commonly found requirements that severance taxes “shall be assessed on the wellhead or mine mouth fair market value.” The modified EAA approach provides a straightforward alternative that is based on sound financial methodology.     

浅谈煤炭企业职工薪酬纳税筹划

阐述了煤炭企业职工薪酬个人所得税纳税筹划的基本思路和方法,主要包括工资与薪金的纳税筹划,职工收入福利化的纳税筹划,以及充分利用优惠政策的纳税筹划。     

新型城镇化PPP项目最优资本结构及其影响因素研究——基于合作共赢的一般均衡视角

本文以新型城镇化建设中的准公益性PPP项目为研究对象,建立政府、企业、银行三方合作的理论模型,采用一般均衡分析与数值仿真模拟方法对项目最优资本结构及其影响因素进行分析,结果表明：PPP项目存在理论上的最优股权结构与资产负债率,公众收入水平、资本产出效率、折旧率、债务利率、企业所得税率以及政府偏好等因素影响项目经营收益与成本、资本运作效率、利润分配方式,并重置最优资本结构。因此,PPP项目融资方案设计应该参考多方合作共赢条件下的最优资本结构,同时,基于项目风险控制以及经济社会效益平衡的目标,通过调节各类影响因素完善项目最优资本结构。     

税收优惠对节能环保上市公司研发投入影响的实证研究

伴随我国经济的快速发展,面临的资源与环境问题日益突出,激励节能环保企业增加研发投入进行技术创新具有重要意义。论文以深沪两市118家节能环保A股上市公司2011～2015年的数据作为研究样本,以研发投入作为被解释变量,以税负总额、所得税税负和流转税税负作为解释变量,结合节能环保产业自身特点,运用多元回归模型分析了税收优惠对节能环保上市公司研发投入的影响。实证结果表明：税收优惠政策对节能环保上市公司技术创新产生了正面影响,所得税优惠政策比流转税优惠政策对研发投入的影响更显著。建议从继续完善所得税税收优惠、逐步加大流转税优惠力度、建立健全配套措施等方面完善激励节能环保企业增加研发投入的税收优惠政策。     

Federal Income Taxes, Inflation and Holding Periods for Income-Producing Property

This paper investigates the question of tax-induced holding periods for income-producing property, and whether such periods are influenced by selection of depreciation methods and inflation. Also, given that selection of depreciation methods are a function of holding periods, the magnitudes of benefits associated with selection of depreciation methods are examined. These issues are considered for investors affected by the regular minimum tax and the maximum tax as well as those unaffected by such provisions.     

The impact of research and development promotion schemes in the Taiwanese electronic component industry

This paper explores the effect of government research and development (R&D) promotion schemes on R&D expenditures in the electronic component industry. We investigated the impact of three promotion tools: R&D tax credits, exemption from tariffs, and accelerated depreciation. A total of 124 firms was interviewed. A two-limit model was used in the data analysis.
Our empirical analysis indicates the scheme generated a rate of increase in industrial R&D investments of about 16%. Furthermore, on average, the impacts of R&D tax credits, exemption from tariffs, and accelerated depreciation, were about 10%, 4%, and 2%, respectively. In addition, we found that the larger the firm, the weaker the influence of the promotion scheme on R&D expenditures in the industry.     

Letter From the Editor

This paper compares the United States depreciation rules, corporate income tax rates, and investment tax credits with the seven countries that have the highest direct investment from the U.S. These countries are Australia, Canada. France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. For illustrative purposes, two comparative examples for computer systems and manufacturing equipment are included.     

Tax Rules and the Sale and Leaseback of Corporate Real Estate

This study examines the effect of the sale and leaseback of corporate real estate on the stock prices of the selling firms. We ask whether the Tax Reform Act of 1986 (TRA 1986) had a negative impact on the market valuation effects of corporate sale and leasebacks. The results of the comparative statics analysis predict that the net present value of the lessee should be negatively related to the tax depreciation recovery life for the lessor and to the marginal ordinary income tax rate of the marginal holder of commercial mortgage debt. However, it should be positively related to the marginal tax rate of the equityholder of the corporate lessee. Changes in the marginal ordinary income tax rates of the lessor and the corporate lessee have an ambiguous effect on the equity value of the corporate lessee. Nevertheless, results of simulation analyses suggest that the relationship between the net present value of the lessee and each of the tax rates of the lessor and corporate lessee is negative. The empirical evidence suggests that subsequent to TRA 1986, the lessee's benefits associated with sale and leaseback transactions have decreased.     

Labor Supply,Flexible Hours and Real Estate Agents

Real estate agents have flexibility in choosing hours and employers. These responses are tested with a five‐equation recursive model. Agents choose between full‐ and part‐time work. The conditional wage measures productivity adjusted for self‐selection to each status. Hours worked in each status depend on the fitted after‐tax wage and household income, yielding flexible supply elasticities. Using a 2005 survey of 8,450 U.S. real estate agents, a year of experience raises the full‐time hourly wage by 2.5%. Conditional hours worked decline by 0.6%, implying an earnings return of 1.9% per year of experience. The labor supply elasticity for full‐time agents is 0.21; it is almost zero for part timers.     

Prospective Changes in Tax Law and the Value of Depreciable Real Estate

The Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981 significantly reduced the taxation of income-producing properties by accelerating tax depreciation on both new and, especially, existing properties. A partial reversal of the 1981 legislation appears likely. To provide some insight into the possible effects of a decrease in tax depreciation of income-producing properties, two potential tax changes are analyzed: an increase from fifteen to twenty years in the tax service lives of both new and existing properties and an increase for existing properties only. Both residential and commercial/industrial properties are considered.     

Tax Progression under Collective Wage Bargaining and Individual Effort Determination

We study the impact of tax policy on wage negotiations, workers’ effort, employment, output, and welfare under imperfectly observable effort. A higher degree of tax progression always leads to wage moderation, but the well‐established result from the wage bargaining literature that a revenue‐neutral increase in the degree of tax progression is good for employment does not carry over to the case with wage negotiations and imperfectly observable effort. Introducing tax progression increases employment and output, but we cannot rule out that the negative effort effect of increasing tax progression will lead employment to fall when tax progression is already high.     

Risk Allowance in Original Capital Investments*

In engineering economy studies, the total risk capital is often not the original capital investment. If a firm remains profitable in the future, a portion of a completely unsuccessful investment can be recovered (1) through income-tax saving as a result of the depreciation cash flows, and (2) through possible reuse of the idle depreciating facilities.

To allow for income-tax savings, the authors propose that the present worth of the guaranteed depreciation cash flow be discounted at the cost of capital and subtracted from the total initial investment to give a better measure of the risk capital. The operating profit, depreciation-free net income, can then be treated in an appropriate fashion using probabilities or a higher discount rate to account for future uncertainties in forecasting market volume, price, manufacturing costs, etc. The application of this principle has been illustrated through a number of ex amples. The results indicate the value of distinguishing between the depreciation and operational cash flow in evaluating high-risk projects in which the yield criterion is used and in mutually exclusive evaluations in which capital investment and depreciation life vary.

A further reduction in original risk capital investment may be justified if the investment still has alternate use value should the project fail; that is, in addition to the depreciation tax credit from an idle piece of equipment. The application of this principle to a mutually exclusive decision involving a grass roots plant versus a plant located as a part of an integrated facility is illustrated. Interestingly, while most decision-makers tend to be conservative with regard to reducing risk capital, ignoring the reuse potential is inconsistent in this situation as it will tend to favor the investment with the greater risk, i.e., the grass roots location.     

Minimum Cash Wages,Tipped Restaurant Workers,and Poverty

This is the first study to examine the effect of increases in the tipped minimum cash wage—the wage employers must pay to tipped employees—on poverty. Using March Current Population Survey data (1988–2014), we find that tipped minimum cash wage increases are associated with declines in the risk of a tipped restaurant worker living in a poor family (elasticities around –0.2). However, we find little evidence of poverty‐alleviating effects when using the household rather than the family as the sharing unit. This result is consistent with evidence that a substantial share of tipped workers who live in a poor family live in a nonpoor household with persons unrelated by blood, marriage, or adoption who contribute to the household's income. Furthermore, we find that tipped minimum cash wage hikes are associated with increases in the risk of a younger, less‐educated individual living in a poor family or household. Adverse labor demand effects that redistribute income among low‐skilled individuals drive these results. We conclude that raising the tipped minimum cash wage is a poorly targeted policy to deliver income to poor restaurant workers.     

Effects Of Obsolescence On Tax Depreciation Practice

To paraphrase an old saying: Everybody complains about the way obsolescence is handled in tax depreciation practice, but nobody has as yet found a solution that satisfies both the taxpayer and the tax collector. It is obvious that this problem is much too big to treat in detail in this short article, but an attempt will be made to discuss several aspects of the problem which the writer believes either have not been fully understood by most persons, or else have not been explained sufficiently by those who advocate certain procedures. In order to develop the subject adequately, it will be necessary to investigate certain matters not directly concerned with tax practice     

关于强化我国个人所得税收入分配功能的探析

通过对我国现行个人所得税收入分配功能的分析和定位可看出,我国目前贫富差距惊人,城乡收入差距悬殊．从基尼系数分析显示,我国已经步入了国际警戒线,造成这种情况的原因是我国个人所得税不能充分执行其调节收入分配的功能。通过对税收制度方面和税收征收管理方面缺失的研究,显示我国个人所得税收入调节功能存在着严重的缺陷,影响其功能发挥的原因有个人所得税没有体现税负公平的基本原则、个人收入所占的比重较低、调控客体不完全到位等。针对这些影响因素,文章提出了强化我国个人所得税收入分配功能的改革思路．主要是对个人所得税制课税模式、功能定位、税收扣除方式等方面的调整。     

A review of:“DATA ANALYSIS & DECISION MAKING WITH MICROSOFT EXCEL ” By CHRISTIAN S. ALBRIGHT,WAYNE L. WINSTON,CHRISTOPHER ZAPPE Duxbury Press,Pacific Grove,California, 2002, xii + 998 pp. + accompanying CD: ISBN 0-534-38932-5. List: $97·95.

The assumption of a positive marginal tax rate in each period over the life of an investment project does not properly characterize the tax position of a significant number of firms. The paper develops a lower bound on the present value of the tax shield from declining balance depreciation given a reasonable assumption about the stochastic nature of the period by period marginal tax rate. It turns out that the standard textbook formula is a reasonably good approximation of the true present value of the tax shield since our lower bound is very close to the textbook formula.