Tax and the Crisis*

Did taxation play any role in precipitating the financial crisis? Are there lessons to be drawn for future tax reform priorities? This paper reviews the main channels by which tax effects might have been felt and which may require forceful attention. These include in particular the large tax biases favouring debt finance and, in some countries, investment in housing. The complexities of national tax codes, and the international interaction between them, have, moreover, encouraged the use of complicated financial instruments and international tax planning, reducing transparency. Tax distortions did not cause the crisis – in the sense that there are no obvious tax changes likely to have triggered it – but they may well have contributed by leading to higher leverage and more complexity than would otherwise have been the case. Most of these distortions have long been a source of concern, but dealing with them may be more important than previously supposed.     

所得税政策对我国融资租赁业发展的制约及改革探讨

从融资租赁业比较发达的国家来看,税收政策尤其是企业所得税政策,对融资租赁业的发展产生重要影响。我国目前制约融资租赁业发展的所得税政策主要表现在折旧、坏账计提和税收抵免等方面,亟待有针对性地进行改革和完善。     

结构性减税背景下深化我国税制改革探析

"结构性减税"是后危机时代背景下我国政府采取的一项重大宏观调控措施。作为一项与"税改"有着密切联系的积极性财政政策,"结构性减税"的顺利实施必然在改革节奏、改革力度以及改革内容等方面对"税改"提出一系列内在的要求。然而,在实践中,我国"税改"却不能完全适应"结构性减税"政策的内在要求,存在着一系列改革不到位的问题。这严重阻碍了"结构性减税"政策的贯彻落实,亟需我们加大力度,从加快体制变革、完善体制设计、增加体制供给等多个方面进一步深化现有的"税改"。     

What Can America Learn from the British Tax System?

This paper examines elements of British tax policy and discusses their implications for the US, where several recent proposals would mirror aspects of the British system. These include reducing filing requirements under the individual income tax, indexing capital gains for inflation, cutting mortgage interest deductions, enacting a value added tax, and integrating the corporate and personal income taxes. The paper also discusses implications of the poll tax for tax reform. Britain and America have made different choices involving equity, efficiency, simplicity and other goals. These choices offer the chance to help identify the impact of tax policy. JEL classification: H20.     

China's Abolition of the Agricultural Tax,Local Governments’ Responses and Economic Growth

When evaluating agricultural policy changes, much of the attention in the literature has been limited to agricultural productivity growth. This study demonstrates that, under a regionally decentralised authority system, the effect of China's abolition of the agricultural tax (AAT) in 2004–05 extended beyond the realm of agriculture. We find that, following the AAT reform, Chinese counties with higher reliance on agricultural taxation for budgetary revenue prior to the AAT reform experienced higher agricultural economic growth, as expected, but lower non‐agricultural economic growth in the short run. This growth‐inhibiting effect of the AAT reform on non‐agricultural production in the short run can be explained, to some extent, by the increased non‐agricultural taxation due to the insufficient funds that Chinese county governments received from the upper‐level governments following the AAT reform; the magnitude of this tax increase was associated with the degree to which each county relied on agricultural taxation for budgetary revenue prior to the reform. In addition, our results show that the AAT reform resulted in a high level of regional inequality in terms of non‐agricultural GDP per capita. In summary, our study shows that although the AAT reform succeeded in promoting agricultural production, such accomplishments were achieved at the cost of lower non‐agricultural output growth and higher regional inequality of non‐agricultural GDP per capita at the county level.     

缩小我国区域经济发展差距的税收政策研究

近年来,我国经济在快速发展的同时,区域经济发展差距也日趋明显。作为国家宏观调控主要手段的税收政策是影响区域经济发展差距的一个重要因素。导致我国区域经济发展差距过大的税收政策因素包括:税制存在缺陷、税收优惠政策逆向调节、税收返还制度设计不合理等。为发挥好税收政策在缩小区域经济发展差距方面的调节作用,当前应进一步深化税制改革,完善税收优惠政策和税收返还制度。     

税费替代:增值税减税、非税收入征管与企业投资

通过减税促进企业投资和提振宏观经济是近年来中国税收制度改革的重要目标,但减税政策的实际效果却存在争议。本文利用2009年增值税转型改革,研究了减税对地方政府税费收入和企业非税负担的影响,从税费替代的角度揭示非税负担变动如何影响企业固定资产投资。研究发现:(1)增值税转型在减税的同时提高了地方政府非税收入并加重了企业非税负担,地方财政收入受增值税转型冲击越大,企业非税负担上升越明显。(2)上述应主要体现在小型、微型和民营企业上,大中型、非民营企业的非税负担未发生明显变化。(3)非税负担上升会显著抑制小型、微型和民营企业的固定资产投资,促使小型微型和民营企业通过持有更多现金和减少流动性负债来应对税费负担不确定性。本文有助于理解减税政策对小型微型和民营企业非税负担的溢出效应及其影响,为通过减税降费促进投资和提振经济提供经验支撑。     

“十四五”时期的税制结构转型

现行税制的基本架构奠基于1994年,随着经济社会发展格局的变化,自"十二五"时期起,其结构优化问题便已正式列入政策议程,但若干年来进展缓慢。"十四五"迎来了我国税制结构转型的关键期,国家发展战略和政策目标的变化作为重要的外部推动力量,要求一种有利于促进国内消费、以人民为中心和面向现代国家治理的税收制度与之相适应。     

应对突发公共卫生事件的税收政策探讨

近年来国内外突发公共卫生事件发生频率增加,其对经济造成的负面影响不容小觑。税收政策是国家治理和宏观调控的重要工具,对中国这样一个拥有超大规模市场的巨型经济体,建立和完善应对突发公共卫生事件的税收政策体系,发挥其在疫情防控及经济恢复中的保障作用,不仅很有必要,而且对完善国家治理体系现代化具有深远意义。基于此,本文以新冠肺炎疫情为背景,运用相关理论阐述了税收政策应对突发公共卫生事件的必要性,对现有相关应对疫情的税收政策进行系统梳理,提出完善我国突发公共卫生事件的税收政策建议。     

论税制改革、优化与税收征管均衡发展

税制改革与优化为税收征管创造良好的实施基础,有助于税收征管质量和效率的提高;税收征管是税制改革与优化的制约因素,良好的税收征管是保证税制有效运行的手段,税收征管质量和效率的提高有利于税制改革与优化,为税制改革与优化提供更广阔的空间。只有税制改革、优化与税收征管均衡发展,才能更好地实现税收政策的经济社会目标,充分发挥税收的作用。     

我国资源税:现存问题与改革建议

本文首先分析了我国现行资源税制存在的主要问题,包括征收范围窄、"绿化"程度低、税率设计不合理、税目设置无法体现公平、计税依据不利于资源利用等。之后,就资源税改革提出了若干政策建议,即扩大征收范围、提高税率和优化税率结构、改定额税率为比例税率与定额税率相结合、细化税目设置、调整计税依据等。     

The Potential Impact of Reforms to the Essential Parameters of the Council Tax*

Council tax was introduced in Britain in 1993 and represents a unique international property tax. There is a growing belief that it is time to reform the number and structure of council tax bands, but such views have a minimal empirical base. This paper sets out to assess the impact of changing the bands on personal and local government finances, and extends the analysis to the role of the tax multipliers linked to each band. The research is based on the experience of a representative sample of local authorities in Scotland. A statistical revaluation for 2000 is estimated for the existing eight‐band system, and from this base a 10‐band system is calculated. Financial implications are then simulated for each local authority, taking account of central resource equalisation mechanisms. The results indicate that increases in the number of bands will have little impact on the burden of the council tax compared with regular revaluations. Changing the tax multiplier range has the greatest impact on local authority finances and council tax payments.     

Response of Tax Credit Claims to Tax Enforcement: Evidence from a Quasi‐Experiment in Chile

Diesel in Chile receives different tax treatments depending on its use. If diesel is used in industrial activities, the diesel taxes paid can be fully used as a credit against VAT, but if it is used in freight or public transportation – basically trucks and buses – only a fraction of diesel taxes paid can be claimed as a tax credit for VAT payments. As a result of this different tax treatment, firms have incentives to use ‘tax‐exempted’ diesel in activities requiring ‘non‐tax‐exempted’ diesel. This tax wedge therefore generates an opportunity for tax evasion, especially for firms with multiple economic activities, one of them being transport. In this paper, we analyse the impact of a tax enforcement programme implemented by the Chilean Internal Revenue Service (IRS), where letters requiring information about diesel purchases and use and vehicle ownership were sent to around 200 firms in 2003. Using different empirical strategies to consider the non‐randomness of the selection of firms, the empirical results show consistently that firms receiving a letter decreased their diesel tax credits by around 10 per cent.     

论全球金融危机下的中国结构性减税

实施两年的结构性减税该向何处走?回答这个问题,需要深入分析结构性减税与税制改革、宏观调控的内在逻辑。事实上,结构性减税不仅仅是应对危机的短期宏观调控手段,更是税制改革的一项长期战略选择。在后危机时代进一步推进结构性减税,应该从适应国际经济环境,面向十二五规划目标,明确产业、地区、居民三个方面的导向以及突破关键瓶颈入手。     

我国宏观税收负担走势分析与政策选择

从大的方面看,世界各国宏观税负水平的差异主要表现为发达国家和发展中国家的税负差异,造成这些差异的主要原因包括经济发展水平、社会保障制度和税收征管水平、税收制度以及优惠政策等。通过对我国目前宏观税负水平的判断,应该在推进税费改革、实现增值税转型、规范企业所得税优惠等方面有所改进。     

当前我国个人所得税改革的若干问题探讨

2011年新个人所得税改革政策出台后,我国的个人所得税仍然面临诸多矛盾冲突,如缺乏整体税制设计、改革的指导思想不够明确以及改革缺乏对征管约束的考量等。应明晰个税改革的目标和责任,对改革进行准确定位;对税制进行整体设计,推动个税向综合与分类相结合的制度突破;适时跟进个税征管领域的配套改革。     

Principles of Tax Design,Public Policy and Beyond: The Ideas of James Mirrlees, 1936–2018

Sir James Mirrlees, co‐recipient of the 1996 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, passed away in August 2018. This article outlines how his work has transformed economists’ understanding of their discipline – from the principles of tax design to the theory of contracts and beyond. By conceiving of policy questions in terms of information asymmetries between governments and taxpayers, Mirrlees demonstrated how to conduct convincing analysis of redistributive objectives together with incentive effects in the design of general tax systems and public policy more broadly. His ability to simplify complex problems in ways that reveal their tractable essence means that his work has yielded insights that have reverberated throughout the discipline. It has also proved highly fruitful for practical policy design.     

税收收入中性约束下最优环境税率研究

通过构建完全垄断企业与政府的两阶段博弈模型,对政府如何制定最优环境税率,实现税收收入中性约束下社会福利最大化及企业利润最大化问题进行了分析。研究发现：在一定的条件下,环境税率和其他税率越高,企业产出水平和排污量越低;当政府的税收收入较少时,环境税率与排污的边际损害程度呈现倒 U 型;而当政府税收收入较高时,环境税率随着排污的边际损害程度的提高而增加。据此提出环境税改革的建议：一是采取有差别的环境税率;二是将污染物排放的边际损害控制在一定范围内;三是适时调整环境税税率,并同时辅之以相对应的配套改革措施。     

出口退税研究的宏观视野--兼谈我国出口退税政策的设计

出口退税受一国经济体制、贸易策略、外汇政策、财税制度等诸多因素的影响.只有将出口退税纳入宏观视野,综合考虑各项因素,恰当地给出口退税定位,才能使设计出的制度符合我国国情.文章分析了宏观背景下出口退税的影响因素,并对如何完善我国出口退税政策提出了自己的建议.     

从欧盟国家的单一税改革看税收政策的有效性

本文首先对税收政策及其有效性的标准进行了诠释;其次从单一税改革的实践及其成就两个方面介绍了欧盟国家的单一税改革;再次总结了单一税改革的特点并对其税收的有效性进行了评价;最后得出了单一税对我国进行税制改革的一些启示。