Lowering the Marginal Corporate Tax Rate: Why the Debate?

In an effort to attract new investors and retain existing producers, governments use corporate tax rates as a policy tool for industrial recruitment, resulting in inter‐state tax competition. Foreign direct investment (FDI) growth and GDP growth are the two policy outcomes gauged in inter‐state tax competition. The assumption is that lower corporate taxes lead to increases in FDI, which results in capital formation that generates GDP growth. This 60‐nation panel study tests that assumption through examining economic indicators contingent on taxation, such as FDI and mergers and acquisitions among multinational corporations between 1999 and 2009. The results suggest that reduced corporate tax rates can increase FDI but decrease annual GDP growth. The main policy implication is that tax competition may attract investment, but may not promote overall economic growth, offering support for value‐extraction theories.     

Property taxation and the demand for housing: An econometric analysis

There is disagreement among economists regarding the effect of a local increase in property taxation on the housing market. In defining the price of housing services studies of the demand for housing have treated the property tax exclusively as an excise tax on housing consumption. Two recent theoretical developments suggest this is a misrepresentation of the tax. One theory holds that the excise effects of property taxation may be shifted backward to the factors employed in the production of housing. The other theory concludes that the property tax is not an excise, but rather serves as an efficient price for local public services. To investigate these hypotheses, data from the Annual Housing Survey were employed to estimate a housing demand model which included the net effective property tax rate among the set of independent variables. In addition to revealing the property tax-housing demand relationship, the model provides more reliable estimates of income and price elasticities by eliminating specification errors found in previous studies. Results indicate that the property tax reduces the housing consumption of central city homeowners, but does not distort the suburban housing market.     

The Built‐in Flexibility of Income and Consumption Taxes

This paper reviews, and synthesises within a uniform framework, a number of analytical results on the built‐in flexibility of taxation. Established results for income taxes are reviewed and integrated with recent results for consumption taxes. These help to provide a better understanding of the determinants of the revenue responsiveness properties of different taxes. They also provide convenient expressions for the calculation of tax revenue elasticities in practice. It is shown that the magnitude of revenue elasticities can be expected to differ substantially for alternative taxes, for different forms of the same tax, and for the same tax over time as incomes change relative to tax thresholds and as consumption patterns change. These results are especially relevant for the many industrialised countries which have undertaken major fiscal reforms in recent years with, often unintended, consequences for revenue elasticities.     

INTERFUEL SUBSTITUTION: A META‐ANALYSIS

Abstract This paper provides the first meta‐analysis of the interfuel substitutability literature. The sample includes 47 studies of interfuel substitution in the industrial sector, in manufacturing industry or manufacturing sub‐industries, or in the macro‐economy of a variety of developed and developing countries. Meta‐regressions are estimated for the six shadow elasticities of substitution between coal, oil, gas and electricity. I find that at the level of the industrial sector as a whole the oil–coal, oil–gas, oil–electricity and gas–electricity shadow elasticities of substitution are significantly greater than unity. The remaining elasticities – between coal and gas and coal and electricity – are insignificantly different from unity or zero due to their large standard errors. Substitution possibilities seem more constrained at the macro level and less constrained at lower levels of aggregation. Estimates of the elasticities of substitution from cross‐section regressions are generally largest whereas fixed effects panel estimates are intermediate in magnitude, and time‐series estimates are mostly much smaller. In order to obtain more precise and less biased estimates of long‐run elasticities of substitution, there is a need for additional primary studies using large samples and/or the between estimator which econometric research suggests is likely to provide the best estimates of long‐run elasticities.     

Factor substitution and taxation in a finance constrained economy

In this paper, we examine the effects of constant-rate factor taxation on macroeconomic stability in the Woodford (1986) model. Our focus is on how the degree of factor substitution, as measured by the elasticity of factor substitution (EOS) in production, affects different balanced-budget tax rules. Analytically, we show that indeterminacy can occur under capital income taxation only when the EOS is very low, whereas indeterminacy under labor income taxation is not subject to the EOS restriction. This finding is robust when we tax all of the factor incomes with equal rates. Thus, in terms of macroeconomic stability, taxing capital income is preferred to taxing labor income.     

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.     

C2C模式电子商务税收问题探析

是否应对C2C模式电子商务征税以及何时征税是近几年研究的热点。本文对C2C模式电子商务征税的可行性和面临的挑战进行了分析,认为对C2C模式电子商务征税有法可依,若对其免税则是对其他经营形式的不公。但同时由于目前社会对C2C电子商务征税缺乏认同,加上我国信息化水平较低,对C2C模式电子商务的税收监管难度大、成本高,因此,在现行的税收体系下无法实现有效征税。此外,C2C电子商务在解决就业等方面能发挥重要作用,对其征税会抑制人们利用网络创业的热情,不利于电子商务的发展。所以,在当前的环境下,对C2C电子商务征税应予以暂缓,对其采取扶持策略;切实推进网络实名制,同时税务部门要加强与电子商务平台的合作,建立基本信息采集制度;加强税务信息化建设,提高税务信息化管理水平,推进税收征管的改革;提高税务人员的综合素质以适应现代网络税收的要求。     

Taxation for Low Cost Wood Fiber*

Abstract . If forest industry taxation is to be put on a sound economic basis, the Federal Government, the largest land owner, should pay the same taxes as any other landowner, so that the social and economic effects of taxation are realized. Specialists report that the form of the property tax preferred for the taxation of the property of the forest industry, under most circumstances, is land value taxation, not the property tax based on income realized at some point In the future which presumed the continued existence of virgin forests. This paper recognizes that the forest industry now is based on harvests of tree crops and proposes a further development of the land value taxation principle in the form of a forest tax composed of a land value tax combined with a tax on tree growth which increases as growth as a percentage of volume growth decreases with the tree's increasing age.     

Are Corporate Tax Reductions Real Benefits under Imputation Systems?

Imputation systems integrate corporate and shareholder personal income taxes to alleviate double taxation of dividend income. In this study, we empirically examine whether a corporate tax rate reduction under an imputation tax system benefits shareholders. Using Taiwan as a setting, our analyses indicate that decreasing the corporate tax rate is associated with an increase in dividend payout ratio and foreign investment. Moreover, the increase in dividend payout ratio is even greater for firms that have a higher increase in foreign ownership. Additionally, the market reacts positively to an announcement of a tax rate reduction; specifically, positive stock price reactions are stronger for firms that experienced a greater increase in foreign ownership in response to the tax rate reduction, for firms with greater liquidity constraints and more growth opportunities before the tax rate reduction, and for firms with a bigger decrease in effective tax rates after the tax rate reduction. Overall, we provide evidence that a tax rate reduction is associated with economic impacts and that foreign shareholders appear to be the main beneficiaries of a tax rate reduction under an imputation tax system.     

论我国房产税的计税依据

我国将稳步推进房产税的改革,而在改革的过程中需要准确界定房产税的计税依据。为此本文首先分析和比较了面积、市场价值和租金收入三种类型的房产税计税依据的优点和缺点,在此基础上结合公平性的要求、我国现行税收征管水平以及房地产市场现状等情况,提出我国应以市场价值为基准确定房地产税税基。对于房地产市场价值的评估办法,笔者认为居住用房地产价值的评估应该采用“城乡有别”的办法——城市和县城的居住用房地产采用市场比较法进行价值评估;农村地区的房地产采用重置成本法进行价值评估;对于营业用房地产,则采用收益法评估其市场价值。     

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.     

Political Economy of Property Tax Reform: Hawaii's Experiment with Split‐Rate Property Taxation

Economic theory suggests that switching from a general property tax to a split‐rate tax increases land use efficiency and stimulates urban core development while preserving the environment and reducing urban sprawl. Under split‐rate property taxation, land is typically taxed at a significantly higher rate than improvements. Beginning in 1965 Hawaii experimented with a statewide split‐rate property tax system to encourage economic growth and effect land reform. The experiment was ended in 1977. Following the transfer of property taxing powers to the counties in 1978, some counties brought back the split‐rate property tax at times. Since 2006, Kauai County has adopted the unusual practice of taxing improvements at a higher rate than land for most property classes. This article chronicles and explains the rationale behind Hawaii's state and county experiments with split‐rate property taxation.     

The Income Elasticity of Money Demand: A Meta‐Analysis of Empirical Results*

Abstract. In this paper, we use meta‐analytic methods to investigate possible sources for the large variation in empirical findings about the income elasticity of money demand. Our results suggest that the broadness of the monetary aggregate, the inclusion of wealth and the consideration of financial innovation exert a significant influence on estimated income elasticities. Furthermore, we find substantial cross‐country differences, in particular between the US and other countries. These differences can, to some extent, be explained by the macrofeconomic environment and the dissemination of payment cards.     

Distance,trade and FDI: a Hausman–Taylor SUR approach

This paper analyses the effects of distance as a common determinant of exports and FDI in a three‐factor New Trade Theory model, assuming that distance affects both pure trade costs and plant set‐up costs. Exports and FDI are not necessarily substitutes with respect to distance, since the predicted impact depends on its importance for fixed plant set‐up costs relative to transportation costs and on the relative importance of vertical MNEs. For the empirical specification, we suggest that the impact of time‐invariant variables such as distance is most appropriately analysed in a Hausman–Taylor SUR model. We apply our model to industry‐level data of bilateral outward FDI stocks and exports of the US and Germany. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

南京市地方税务局管理现代化综合评价

结合南京市地方税务局税务管理现代化的构成要素,建立了税务管理现代化评价指标系统,基于指标系统和南京市地方税务局统计资料,对南京市地方税务局管理现代化给出了综合评价,为南京市地方税务局税务管理现代化提供依据。     

Cash flow analysis for energy impacted local governments—a case study of mercer county,north dakota

Energy resource taxation policy has become a major issue in a number of energy producing areas and particularly in the western united States. This paper compares alternative energy taxation systems in terms of their implications for local governments and local planning. A fiscal impact simulation model is utilized to evaluate a severance-production tax system and, alternatively, an ad valorem property tax system. The results indicate that the form of taxation system adopted can have a major influence on the fiscal outlook for local governments in areas affected by large scale development projects and thus on the welfare of area residents. These results also suggest that local fiscal considerations should receive careful attention in local planning and policy formulation.     

Neighborhood Revitalization and New Life: A Land Value Taxation Approach

When a neighborhood declines, the poor get poorer, crime rises, and those who can leave the area. The tax base shrinks, so the rates paid by those least able to pay increase. The prevailing system of a low tax on land values leads to land speculation and private land banking, assuring that the landowner can hold out for a very high price for a very long time. A higher tax on land values (coupled with reduction in building taxes) creates an incentive to sell that land or do something with it rather than waiting. In cities that use land‐value taxes, real‐estate markets start to work again and neighborhoods recover. Clairton, Pennsylvania's adoption of a land‐value‐taxation system demonstrates the neighborhood revitalization to which it leads, as owner‐occupied residences and multi‐family units saw a relief in their tax burden. In contrast, vacant properties' contribution to the city budget tripled, providing the resources to pay for the education of Clairton's children and liberate working and middle‐class families from the bonds of labor and capital taxation.     

Suburban Encroachment on the Old North 40: The Search for Effective Measures to Preserve Agricultural Land

A bstract . Since 1956, more than 40 states have passed some form of legislation to preserve agricultural land. These statutes or constitutional amendments invoke a variety of economic and/or legal strategies to obtain their objectives, but the most common strategy is that of the differential tax. None of the various strategies is entirely effective, however, although land resource allocation problems have prompted some economists to reexamine the merits of land value taxation. A survey of pertinent literature on land value taxation is examined in an effort to determine whether a system based on single tax principles might offer a simpler, more equitable, and therefore preferable solution to the problem of land resource allocation according to criteria believed to foster environmental conservation or social goals.     

促进我国物流产业发展的税收政策研究

指出我国物流业税收领域制度不完善,仍然存在税费界限不清、计税基数不合理、重复纳税等问题。所以必须完善税收政策和法规,对我国物流业税费继续规范,全面发挥保税物流区域功能,统一所得税、调整流转税政策以及对税收管理进行完善等措施,积极促进我国物流业与税收的良性发展。     

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