Local Taxation in Indonesia: Opportunities for Reform

The Indonesian Government has recently completed a major reform of national taxation; an obvious follow-up is the reform of local taxation. Provinces and kabupaten/kotamadya levy a wide range of local taxes, but with the exception of provincial taxes on motor vehicles, these are mostly small, inelastic and costly to collect. In addition, many have undesirable equity and efficiency implications. This paper analyses the present range of local taxes in terms of a set of criteria, and discusses such issues as local fiscal performance, the effect of multiple taxes, and taxation versus charging. The paper concludes with a review of the options for reform aimed not only at simplifying and improving local taxation, but also at reducing local government's dependence on central government grants.     

Tax reform issues in Korea

The relatively simple nature of the tax policy in Korea is changing recently, as widening income gap, unemployment, social expenditures, and decentralization have become important policy issues. In this paper, the tax system in Korea is overviewed, and several important tax reform issues such as economic growth, tax competition, redistribution, tax assignment, and real estate taxes are discussed. The main reform issues are the followings. The tax burden is expected to rise, but the direction of changes in tax mix is not clear since social expenditures can play as important role as direct taxation for redistribution. Taxes related to real estates in Korea are too complicated, and the progressivity is needed to be lessened. The roles of central and local governments with respect to tax policy are not well designed. Redistributive function should be assigned to the central governments, and tax exporting of local governments should be minimized.     

Rural Informal Taxation in China： Historical Evolution and an Analytic Framework

The present paper examines the historical evolution of China's rural taxation system from the pre-reform period to the late 1990s. We propose that because of information asymmetry between the upper-level and the lower-level governments, local governments had to be granted some informal tax autonomy to fulfill the upper-level policy mandates. This easily led to excessive local informal taxation on farmers. As market liberalization of the grain sector progressed, the low-cost tax instruments implemented through the traditional approach of implicit taxation gradually eroded. Local governments in agricultural regions had to resort to informal fees collected directly from individual rural households while the more industrialized regions shifted to non-agricultural taxes that are less costly in terms of tax collection. Hence, political tension between farmers and local governments in agriculture- based regions emerged and rural tax reform became necessary.     

浅议增值税改革

增值税从开始走到现在,一直都在不断的完善之中,并成功地进入转型;增值税和营业税并存的格局发展到今天,面临着征收链条断裂、税负不公、重复纳税等诸多问题,因此,营业税改征增值税,成为当下增值税改革的关键内容。改革势在必行,改革也困难重重。本文介绍了改革的进程,并提出了一些需要思考的问题。     

"十一五"期间福建省地方税收运行环境分析

本文分析了“十一五”期间福建省经济发展、税务与财政的管理制度改革对地方税收的利弊影响，提出包括建立物业税为地方主体税种稳定地方税收的稳健增长、政策扶持发展地方民营企业壮大经济税源、协调国地税系统征纳标准等建议思考。     

TAX REFORMS IN EAST ASIAN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: Motivations, directions, and implications

This first presents an overview of the level and structure of taxation in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand. It then briefly reviews the available literature on tax reform, country by country. It finally gives a comparative analysis, focusing primarily on tax mix and tax structure, and the importance attached to tax administration.     

1992-2003年我国流转税与所得税的发展

分析流转税与所得税近十年的发展变化和未来的增长趋势,结合我国税制改革以来流转税和所得税的发展变化的特点,用实证的方法,拟合流转税和昕得税关于国内生产总值的历史发展轨迹,测算流转税和所得税与各项经济指标的相关系数,具体量化当经济增长一定的条件下,所得税优于流转税的倍数;可建立经济计量模型,得到流转税和所得税应该达到的最优税收比例。     

The complicit role of local government authorities in corporate bribery: Evidence from a tax collection reform in China

In January 2002, China decided to centralize corporate income tax collection, shifting the collection authority from the local tax bureaus (LTBs) to the state tax bureaus (STBs), for all firms established after December 31, 2001. We exploit this exogenous shock to identify a new cause for corporate bribery, namely, the complicit role of local government authorities. We find that firms whose income taxes are still collected by LTBs after the reform bribe more than similar firms whose taxes are collected by STBs. Such effects are more pronounced for firms located in provinces where government intervention is more prevalent and where judicial system is less independent. Moreover, we find that firms whose taxes are collected by LTBs enjoy lower tax burdens and receive greater tax-related subsidies, especially when they bribe more. Overall, our results highlight the reciprocation between local government authorities and firms in determining corporate bribery.     

从我国房产税发展及发达国家经验看房产税改革

房产税是中外各国政府广为开征的古老的税种,它成为各国政府财政收入的重要来源。中共十八届三中全会提出要深化财税体制改革,加快房地产税立法并适时推进改革,这说明我国房产税改革将会进一步加快实施。比较研究上海、重庆房产税试点情况以及发达国家的房产税税制设计,对于我国房产税下一阶段的改革具有重要的借鉴意义。     

我国房产税改革对住房价格的影响分析

住房价格已成为影响我国社会居民幸福的首要因素。近日,《中共中央关于全面深化改革若干问题的决定》提出,今后将不断深化税收制度改革,完善地方税体系,逐步提高直接税比重,加快房地产税立法并适时推进改革。房产税的立法已被提上日程,本文结合新形势下上海和重庆试点房产税的改革政策及近三年来的实施效果,对我国现行房产税税制的合理性、改革的焦点及共识、房产税对住房价格的影响等理论问题进行阐述,最后提出关于房产税改革的发展方向。     

How Has Rural Tax Reform Affected Farmers and Local Governance in China？

Using nationally representative data, the present paper examines the impact of China's ongoing rural tax reform on farmers. The difficulties in further local governance restructuring are also discussed. It is argued that the issues associated with rural taxation and local governance in China result from inherent tension between an increasingly liberalized economic system and a still centralized political system. Although rural tax reform has helped to reduce farmers' tax burdens in the short term, the establishment of an effective local governance regime requires coordinated reforms to downsize local bureaucracy by providing social security for laid-off cadres, to strengthen local accountability by granting higher local formal tax autonomy, and to promote meaningful participation by expanding local democracy.     

Tax rate,government revenue and economic performance: A perspective of Laffer curve

The Laffer curve illustrates a theoretical relationship between rates of taxation and the resulting levels of government revenue. This paper explores the relationship between tax rate (direct tax on labor income), government revenue and economic performance in a perspective of the Laffer curve by applying Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model. The results show that the top of China's Laffer curve is about 40%. The government should consider changes in the entire taxation system and not just changes in direct taxes while increasing direct tax rate. If China wants to maximize tax revenues, the direct tax rate should be 35%. We conduct a variety of sensitivity analyses and conclude that the government tax peak is always 5–10% earlier than the apex of the Laffer curve. So, if a country has reached the top of the Laffer curve, this paper strongly recommends that tax cuts will have positive implications for the economy and government revenue.     

是土地供应量与房地产税赋提高了房价吗

自分税制实施后,“土地财政”成为我国地方政府获取收入以支撑财政支出的主要选择,而与此同时房价也在不断上涨。中央政府从民生角度要求地方政府对房价实施调控,地方政府则主要通过调整土地供给量和房地产税税赋来施加影响。土地供应量和税赋会影响供需双方从而影响房价,反过来房价又会影响税收收入及开发商对土地的需求,进而影响社会民生。本文对我国东、中、西部地区住房价格和土地供给量、房地产税税赋之间的关系进行分析,探讨各地区的住房价格上涨原因。通过构建住房价格和土地供给量、房地产税税赋之间的PVAR模型,利用格兰杰因果检验、脉冲分析和方差分解方法来透视地方政府行为对住房价格的影响。分析结果显示,地方政府行为和房价之间存在着联动关系,但在推动住房价格上涨的原因上存在着区域差异：在东部地区,土地供应量影响房价;中部地区,二者联合推动了房价上涨。而在西部地区,房地产税税赋对房价的影响明显。在政策建议上,对地价推动房价的地区要从丰富住房来源和数量入手,而税赋影响房价的地区则要完善相关税制改革。     

Comparing the welfare effects of income and excise taxes in the presence of the other taxation paradox

This paper implements numerically a general equilibrium model in which all private producers are price makers and the government utilizes tax revenues to provide a public good. After deriving the partial equilibrium condition for an excise tax to increase price by more than the tax (for a monopoly firm), numerical examples are given, demonstrating this phenomenon for both partial and general equilibrium. In the general equilibrium context, optimal excise taxation and optimal flat-rate income taxation are compared. In the excise tax regime, prices increase by more than the taxes. In the income tax regime, prices actually decline relative to the no-tax regime. In all of the examples given, flat-rate income taxation is superior to excise taxation in terms of welfare. The author has benefitted from exceptionally helpful comments received from J. Ronnie Davis, John D. Wilson, Ralph W. Pfouts, and Amy Crews. He has also benefitted from conversations with Franz Gehrels, David E. Wildasin, Herbert J. Kiesling, and Harold York. The usual disclaimer applies.     

构建以财产税为地方税主体税种的政策分析

我国地方税主体税种的缺失,导致地方政府的财权与事权严重不匹配,无法满足其提供地方公共支出的需要,影响了税收调节功能的发挥。因此,如何选择地方税主体税种是地方税体系建设要解决的最根本的问题。通过分析我国目前地方税体系的现状,同时明确地方税主体税种选择的导向,提出了确立财产税为我国地方税主体税种的目标模式,并配备相应的改革设计方案,为今后我国地方税主体税种的选育提供一定的参考价值。     

以政府手段推进纳税领域的信用制度建设

纳税领域信用制度主要包括纳税信用制度、征税信用制度和用税信用制度。文章在分析我国纳税领域信用缺失及信用制度滞后的基础上,提出以政府手段推进纳税领域三种信用制度建设的思路和想法,采取有形约束（政府）与无形约束（市场）相结合,对失信行为在制度层面形成强大的监督和制约,使其失去可以“运作”和生存的制度空间,以此优化纳税领域信用环境,推进社会信用体系的建设。     

Taxation in the Tanzanian gold sector: Overview of impacts and possible solutions

This paper analyses the factors that reduce the gold sector's contribution to the Tanzanian government's revenue. Tanzania is among Africa's largest gold exporters. Yet ordinary Tanzanians have seen little benefit from this. This is partly because the government has enacted tax laws that are, as we shall see, overly favourable to multinational mining companies, and partly because of the same companies' business practices. Critics argue that the government fails to capture a substantial amount of state revenue as a result of low royalty rates, unpaid corporate taxes and tax evasion by major gold mine operators. This paper argues that the Tanzanian government should try to increase its share of revenues by taxation based on revenues, increasing its auditing skills and its involvement in mining, as well as by increasing the transparency of contracts and limiting the discretionary power of policy-makers in negotiating contracts.     

广东省税收问题探析

广东省税收地位十分重要,连续14年税收总量全国第一,但是广东省税收存在的问题也是不容忽视的。本文充分利用广东省的税收数据,分析了广东省的税负水平与发达国家相比,远远偏低的;广东省的主体税种“生产型增值税”已经不能适应广东省经济发展的需要;广东省内外资企业所得税标准不统一影响了广东省公平竞争的经济环境。     

Environmental and public finance aspects of the taxation of energy

This paper reviews potential applications of environmental taxesin the energy sector. Theoretical and practical arguments forusing environmental taxes are reviewed, and possible arrangementsoutlined for levying environmental taxes on energy. In contrastto most environmental taxes, taxes on energy have the potentialto raise revenues sufficient to alter the constraints and opportunitiesin fiscal policy. A carbon tax levied at a rate of £200per tonne could raise revenues equivalent to about 11 per centof total UK tax receipts, allowing income tax to be halved,or corporation tax abolished. Inappropriate use of the revenues,or their unnecessary dissipation, can greatly add to the costsof environmental policy. But, environmental taxes are unlikelyreduce the overall excess burden from taxation below the currentlevel, and the case for ecotaxes must thus primarily be madein terms of their environmental benefits.     

中、日房地产税制比较分析及启示

近年来,我国房地产市场发展较为迅速,房价持续高涨,房地产税制也存在一些弊端。房地产问题是关系到国计民生的问题。本文对现行日本成熟的房地产税制从税种、纳税义务人、计税依据、税率设计、税收体制五个方面进行比较分析,为完善我国房地产税制提出一些建议和参考。