Resolving the Economic Puzzle: Two Reviews by Stephan Barton and Fred Foldvary Re‐solving the Economic Puzzle by Walter Rybeck London: Shepheard‐Walwyn, 2011, pp.xv, 238, $29.95. ISBN 978‐0‐856‐32819

Walter Rybeck makes the case for land value taxation, explains how he came to understand its importance, and describes his involvement in the Henry George movement in the United States over the last 50 years. While the book demonstrates the virtues of land value taxation, it also illustrates some of the limitations of contemporary Georgism.     

George Raymond Geiger (1903-1998): A Rich Life

ABSTRACT George R. Geiger, professor of Philosophy at Antioch College for fifty years, died March 19, 1998. He was a founding member of the editorial council of the American Journal of Economics and Sociology (1941-1998) and of the Antioch Review (1941-1998). He was also an advisor to and consulting editor of the Humanist (1955–59). He was the son of the founder of the Henry George School of Social Science of New York City and John Dewey's last doctoral student at Columbia University. Early on in his career he took up his father's cause, that of land value taxation; later he took up a defense of the contributions of his mentor, Dewey, and became in his own words a "journalist of philosophy."     

Henry George's Political Critics

A bstract .   Twelve political criticisms of George were paramount after he formed his own political party in 1887: (1) his refusal to join with other reformers to link his proposals with theirs, or to absorb theirs into his own campaign; (2) his singular focus on ground rent to the exclusion of other forms of monopoly income, such as that of the railroads, oil and mining trusts; (3) his almost unconditional support of capital, even against labor; (4) his economic individualism rejecting a strong role for government; (5) his opposition to public ownership or subsidy of basic infrastructure; (6) his refusal to acknowledge interest-bearing debt as the twin form of rentier income alongside ground rent; (7) the scant emphasis he placed on urban land and owner-occupied land; (8) his endorsement of the Democratic Party's free-trade platform; (9) his rejection of an academic platform to elaborate rent theory; (10) the narrowness of his theorizing beyond the land question; (11) the alliance of his followers with the right wing of the political spectrum; and (12) the hope that full taxation of ground rent could be achieved gradually rather than requiring a radical confrontation involving a struggle over control of government.     

基于公司治理的税务筹划研究

税务筹划作为一种理财行为,不可避免地受到契约安排和公司治理的制约和影响。文章从公司治理、契约安排角度深入分析了税务筹划的治理机制与供给机制,提出了诱导性契约安排与激励相结合的公司治理模式,为税务筹划治理效率的提高奠定了基础。     

Is corporate payout taxation a long run phenomenon? Evidence from international data

This paper examines whether dividend and capital gains taxation influences corporate payout policy using the country level data of 21 countries in panel versions of time series models. We find that dividend relative to capital gains tax penalty is cointegrated with corporate payouts (dividends and share repurchases) i.e. corporate payout taxation may be a long run phenomenon. Further, the cointegrating vector estimates are largely consistent with the traditional view of dividend taxation whereby the tax penalty discourages dividends, while the estimates give limited support to the premise that firms substitute dividends for share repurchases in response to an increase in dividend tax penalty. Long run causality also operates between the tax penalty and payouts in the error correction models. Additionally, dividend tax appears to be more influential than capital gains tax on dividend payout decisions. Lastly, taxation affects dividends more significantly in countries with high investor protection.     

Taxation and Economic Growth

A bstract The effects of vorious tax policies on economic growth are recx amined on the basis of the recently developed endogenous growth therory The assertion of Henry George that the structure of taxation is more important than the level of taxation in explaining economic growth is elaborated and verified Annual data for Taiwan from 1954 to 1986 shows that the aggregate tax rate does not have significant effect on the long run growth rates of private ouptup, consumption and production factor inputs This result is due to the poostivie effect of consumption taxation offsetting the negative effect of factor taxation on economic growth     

Lessons of Enduring Value: Henry George a Century Later

A bstract . Henry George , in the judgment of Joseph Schumpeter, was an economist , self taught but, for his time, a century ago, well taught. George's writings can serve mankind constructively today. He wrote brilliantly in showing the destructiveness for human well-being of tariffs which obstruct international trade. His language shows clearly why such impediments to trade wastefully depress levels of living and opportunity. George foresaw some of the more sophisticated reasons why socialism could not be economically successful and also why it would threaten human freedom. Regarding the possibilities of reducing poverty , however, George has not been fully confirmed by a century's experience. But the reasoning that underlies his case for relying on land taxation for government revenue deserves serious attention today.     

Site Value Taxation on Australia

A bstract . Site value taxation is neither a new nor a strictly western concept. Taxing land based on location was proposed in India around 300 B.C. François Quesnay, David Ricardo and John Stuart Mill were among the economists favoring land taxes but Henry George is credited with bringing it about in several areas, notably Australia. That subcontinent has experimented with the land tax on the national as well as the state and local levels but it is presently used only on the latter two. Empirical tests of the tax instrument are few. Pollock and Shoup (1977) forecast that eliminating the tax on improvements would increase investment levels by about 25 per cent in the long run. Hutchinson (1963) found great differences in house values and stocks. This study evaluates the effects of site value taxation on the basis of multivariate regression analysis. It finds strong evidence that, where improvements are relieved of taxation and more revenues are obtained from land values, the average value of housing is significantly higher and the value of the housing stock substantially larger.     

The Progress and Poverty Centenary: Advocates and Opponents Will Enjoy and Learn from the Papers Given at One Celebration

A bstract . The Committee on Taxation. Resources and Economic Development , a group of American fiscal economists , commemorated the centenary of the publication of Henry George's classic, Progress and Poverty , with a conference reported in the book. Land Value Taxation. It raises, typically from a variety of perspectives, the major issues engendered by George's analysis and policy recommendations. Economists who are at least open-minded on George recognize him as a true progressive , a believer in the distribution of income in accordance with productive contribution and a convincing advocate of the social appropriation of economic rent on scientific and moral grounds. George was fundamentally correct in the idea that some form of land value taxation is an especially suitable mode of financing government, though the notion that this could be the single tax is and was unrealistic. The case for this as a cure for poverty is substantially exaggerated but it would remove one source of economic inequality. George, like Edward Bellamy , in promoting equality of opportunity rallied public support for the long-developing movement for pluralist economic democracy .     

公司治理、契约安排与税务筹划

在委托代理分析框架下,税务筹划作为一种理财行为,不可避免地受到契约安排和公司治理的制约和影响。本文从公司治理、契约安排角度深入分析了税务筹划的治理机制与供给机制,提出了诱导性契约安排与激励相结合的公司治理模式,设计了履约成本最低化的契约安排模型,为税务筹划治理效率的提高奠定了基础。     

独立董事网络位置、税收规避与企业价值

独立董事的治理效果影响着上市公司的治理状况,本文从独立董事网络的声誉机制和信息传递机制出发,选取2008?2017年沪深A股上市公司作为研究样本,实证检验独立董事网络位置与企业税收规避的关系。研究发现:独立董事网络位置对企业税收规避有负向影响;与所处地区市场化程度较高的公司相比,所处地区市场化程度较低的上市公司独立董事网络中心度对公司税收规避程度的影响更强;管理层权力削弱了独立董事网络中心度对企业税收规避程度的抑制作用。进一步引入企业价值后发现,独立董事网络中心度可以抑制税收规避对企业价值的减损。本文的研究结果完善了税收规避行为价值的研究体系,也为研究独立董事是否有效发挥治理作用提供了新思路。     

Henry George's Land Reform: The Distinction between Private Ownership and Private Possession

Henry George stated that the taxation of land rent would amount to the abolition of the institution of private ownership of land, thereby alienating all those who, whether for economic or ideological reasons, regard the private ownership of land as essential for social order and progress. George believed that under his proposed reform the private ownership of land would be replaced by private possession. But his distinction between ownership and possession appears to have been based on a misconception of the nature of private ownership. His proposed reform could have been more logically described as a conditional, modified, or restricted private ownership of land, rather than as the abolition of private ownership of land.     

The heterogeneous impact of taxation on economic development: New insights from a panel cointegration approach

In this paper, we study the role of taxation on long-run income performance. In the theoretical part of the study, we develop a stylized model based on Barro (1990), in which income taxation has two contradictory roles in the standard Solow (1956) setup: on the one hand, taxation appropriates resources that would otherwise be used for physical capital accumulation, and on the other, it is the source of government spending, which is used to support private production. In the empirical part of the study, the impact of consumption tax, personal income tax, corporate profit tax and property tax on income is estimated using the common correlated effects (CCE) panel cointegration approach, which allows for cross-sectional dependencies and provides both panel- and country-specific results. The panel findings for 30 OECD countries for the period of 1995–2016 indicate that only consumption tax has a statistically significant negative effect on long-run income. However, because the type and sign of the tax coefficients are heterogeneous for the country-specific results, we conclude that taxation has heterogeneous effects on income.     

Guidance from an Economics Classic: The Centennial of Henry George's 'Protection or Free Trade'

A bstract . The ideas of Henry George on free trade and land taxation are still relevant. The standard of living has risen without the adoption of his ideas on the latter in contradiction of his predictions. But the decrease in protectionism is important in explaining the failure of the predictions and upholds his views on the benefits of free trade.     

因子分析法应用于人力资源配置的分析研究

随着房地产业的发展以及税收改革的深化,地税系统管理任务繁重,人力资源配给矛盾突出,人力资源如何合理分配日趋严峻。本文以M市地税系统为例,利用因子分析法通过对该市地税系统人力资源分配的各个因素如工作强度、工作难度和工作环境进行分析,并提出了对应方案。     

HOW SHOULD CAPITAL BE TAXED?

This survey discusses how capital should be taxed in advanced economies. We review the theoretical optimal tax literature, survey empirical studies on the distribution of capital and the distortionary costs of capital taxation, and analyze the desirability of specific taxes on capital income, wealth, property, inheritances, and corporate profits. Our overall conclusion is that capital taxation plays an important role in an optimal tax system, but only certain ways of taxing capital are able to strike a balance between optimality and administrative feasibility.     

Henry George and the Shakers: Evolution of Communal Attitudes Towards Land Ownership

A bstract . The influence of Henry George on the Shakers has been misunderstood. The most prominent late nineteenth century Shaker elder was Frederick W. Evans , brother of George Henry Evans , the land reformer of the second quarter of the century. Similarities in the programs of G. H. Evans and Henry George have been recognized, but the two proposed different kinds of land reforms. Evans promoted quantitative restrictions on land ownership , while George was known for his advocacy of a single tax on land. The New York Shakers, as large land owners, successfully resisted early G. H. Evans type land reforms. Later, Shakers led by F. W. Evans embraced Henry George-type policy proposals and supported George for mayor of New York City. E. W. Evans himself, however, conflated Henry George's proposals with those of his brother, never realizing the contradiction between the two, much less resolving it. The consequences of Shaker ambivalence toward their large landholdings persisted well into the twentieth century.     

Henry George and Europe:

A bstract Henry George played a tremendous role in the development and growth of the British Liberal party and of British Liberalism, one no less significant than his role in that of British non-Marxian socialism One of the Liberal leaders who gained a place in history, Joseph Chamberlain, had already been a land reformer before he learned about Georgism Chamberlain used the Georgist analysis, but he and the other 19th century Radical Liberals worked up a program for a broader distribution of landed property, not for the abolition of the private land monopoly. The same tactic in Ireland entrenched private land monopoly thereby making many renters small holders But George also supplied the analysis and the context of the Liberal campaign And later Liberal leaders–notably David Lloyd George, Winston Churchill (as well as Liberals in the Labour Party. Philip Snowden, Herbert Morrison, Ramsay MacDonald and Josiah Wedgwood) –came close to making the taxation of land values the law of the kingdom     

Henry George and Europe

A bstract . The basic ideas of Henry George , 19th century American economist and social philosopher, were not novel in Denmark , which had a tradition of land value taxation and free trade. But they had special appeal for its smallholder farmers. They demanded that George's principles be applied more fully, getting all tax revenues from the land 's unimproved value, so that taxes on buildings, personal property and wages could be abolished. Viggo Ullman 's Danish-Norwegian translation of Progress and Poverty won the commitment of folk school movement leaders and the intelligentsia. In 1903 large landowners gained control of the Liberal Party and proceeded to abolish the traditional land tax, producer of up to 50 percent of State revenues. The Radical Liberals split and took over, to some extent carrying out George's taxation principles. In 1919 a Georgist party, the "Retsforbundet" was founded; it won the balance of power in 1957. But lack of finances and organizing ability and growing voter apathy ended its progress.     

Using Jane Jacobs and Henry George to Tame Gentrification

The solutions that Jane Jacobs proposed to improve neighborhoods created a paradoxical problem: improvement increased demand for the amenities of the area, which caused land prices to rise. The net result was at least partial displacement of the old residents of the neighborhood with new ones. Jane Jacobs has been criticized for ignoring gentrification, but she was clearly aware of this process and tried to find means to counter it. By combining the ideas of Henry George about land taxation with the ideals of Jane Jacobs about neighborhood diversity, we can mitigate the negative effects of gentrification and direct the energy of market forces into producing a greater supply of desirable neighborhoods.