Specific and Ad Valorem Taxation in Asymmetric Cournot Oligopolies

This paper compares ad valorem and specific taxes in asymmetric homogenous Cournot oligopolies with constant marginal costs. We show that for any given level of industry output, ad valorem taxes are superior to specific taxes in terms of revenue raised. If the tax rates are sufficiently high, for any given specific tax one can find an ad valorem tax that leads to greater tax revenue, consumer surplus, and industry profits.     

From Destination- to Origin-Based Consumption Taxation: A Dynamic CGE Analysis

A switch from the current destination-based value-added taxation to an origin-based consumption tax will not be neutral in a world economy with international capital mobility and overlapping generations. This paper evaluates the macroeconomic and welfare effects of such a multilateral reform in a two-region, intertemporal general equilibrium model. The analysis isolates and quantifies income effects due to changes in generations' tax burdens, factor price repercussions and initial asset price adjustments, as well as efficiency effects that arise from endogenous labor supply and short run savings responses in a numerical simulation exercise.     

Commodity Taxation and Social Welfare: The Generalized Ramsey Rule

Commodity taxes have three distinct roles: (1) revenue collection, (2) interpersonal redistribution, and (3) resource allocation. The paper presents an integrated treatment of these three concerns in a second-best general equilibrium framework, which leads to the generalized Ramsey rule for optimum taxation. We show how many standard results on optimum taxation and tax reform have a straightforward counterpart in this general framework. Using this framework, we also try to clarify the notion of deadweight loss, as well as the relation between alternative distributional assumptions and the structure of optimum taxes.     

Taxation on Land Value and Development When There Are Negative Externalities from Development

This article employs a real options framework to investigate the design of taxation on both land value and development in a competitive real estate market. We assume that developed properties reduce open space, and thereby harm urban residents. However, ignoring this negative externality, landowners will develop properties sooner than is socially optimal. A regulator can correct this tendency by imposing a positive tax on development or a negative tax on land value. Alternatively, the regulator can implement both instruments simultaneously, in which case an increase in the tax rate on development will be accompanied by an increase in the tax rate on land value, and vice versa.

农村税费改革与农村公共产品供给体制的转变

农村税费是农村公共产品的总体补偿价格.作为地方性的公共产品,农村公共产品供求机制的理顺和价格的合理形成与制定,直接关系到农村公共产品的有效提供、农民福利和收入水平的提高以及农村税费改革的深入推进.本文以农村税费改革为切入点,从分析农村税费改革的直接和最终诱因出发,剖析农村公共产品供给体制的弊端,指出农村税费改革的进一步推进需要农村公共产品供给体制的彻底转变.     

结合逃税的最优税收理论研究评述

最优税收理论主要研究税制的最优设计问题,而逃税理论主要致力于政府的最优执行问题,最近出现了将这两种理论结合起来的研究趋势。结合逃税的最优税收理论,包括最优所得税和最优商品税等内容,研究结果表明:结合逃税的最优税收理论并不能得出比标准最优税收理论更为明确的政策结论,其还有待于进一步的研究和发展。     

地方税收竞争中公共品供给的动态博弈及应对思路

地方税收竞争在中国具有普遍性,但与市场经济发达国家的税收竞争又存在着内容上的差异.从博弈分析来看,博弈参与主体在完全信息条件下,其最优结果是进行地方税收竞争且投入于公共品.但从中国的现实情况来看,公共品供给不足是源于制度上提供的潜在利益驱动地方政府偏离其应有责任.因此,减少政府层次、合理配给地方政府相对独立的税权、制定良好的公共支出政策是促使经济进入良性循环、地方税收竞争走向规范、有序的重要制度安排.     

Financing Public Goods with Income Taxation: Provision Rules vs. Provision Level

Due to the use of distortionary taxation, many believe that real-world economies should attain a lower level of public expenditures than in a situation where lump-sum taxes are available. The present paper examines this hypothesis by means of the two-type self-selection model of income taxation. Based on the findings of Boadway and Keen (1993), I provide sufficient conditions for both a lower and a higher level of public expenditures in second best than in first best. In particular, it is shown that the separability assumption of Christiansen (1981) leads to under-provision of the public good in the income tax optimum.     

VAT attacks!

Like the theory of the second best that the 2006 congress marks, the value added tax (VAT) is now fifty years old. Judged by the extent and speed of its spread around the world, and the revenue that it raises, the VAT would seem to have been a remarkable success. Over the last few years, however, it has come under a series of attacks. This paper considers three of the most prominent of these. One is the fear (raised mainly in the United States) that the VAT actually does too good a job of raising tax revenue—which raises the empirical question of whether it has indeed proved as effective a source of revenue as its proponents claim and its opponents fear. The second is the view that the VAT does a bad job of taxing the informal sector—and that tariffs might consequently be a better revenue-raising instrument for many developing countries. The third attack is the most literal, by criminals rather than theorists: in the European Union and elsewhere, sophisticated VAT fraud, targeting its refund provisions, has become a serious concern. The paper also argues, more generally, that the many unanswered questions concerning the VAT reflect an unfortunate disconnect between the development of the tax itself and of second best tax analysis. I am grateful to Ben Lockwood and Stephen Smith for allowing me to draw on our joint work, and to Vidar Christiansen, Sijbren Cnossen, Isaias Coelho, Alain Jousten, Victoria Perry, and Emil Sunley for many helpful comments and suggestions. Views and errors remain mine alone, and should not be attributed to the International Monetary Fund.     

Competition in Unit vs. Ad Valorem Taxes

This paper shows that in a standard model of tax competition, the Nash equilibrium in capital taxes depends on whether these taxes are unit (as assumed in the literature) or ad valorem (as in reality). In a symmetric version of the model, general results are established: taxes and public good provision are both higher, and residents in all countries are better off, when countries compete in unit taxes, as opposed to ad valorem taxes. However, the difference in equilibrium outcomes is negligible when the number of countries is large.     

最优所得税理论与我国个人所得税的实践

最优所得税理论一诞生,就受到了广泛关注。一些学者用不同模型阐述了最优所得税理论。虽毋须严格按照这些模型来设计我国的个人所得税制度,但其模型所体现的税制设计理念或思想对现阶段我国个人所得税制度的设计具有一定的参考价值。     

公共产品视角下的我国税权治理机制研究

当前,我国税权治理机制存在事权、财权和税权不统一,税权高度集中,地方税收立法权缺位等问题,不利于地方税系的健全和地方经济社会的发展。本文主要是通过公共产品的视角来阐述税权治理的理论依据,并借鉴西方国家税权治理的有益经验,进一步完善我国的税权治理机制。     

The Taxation of Banking in an Integrating Europe

The banking sector is subject to explicit taxation and to bank regulation and supervision with quasi-fiscal implications. The assignment of national fiscal policy rights and duties regarding international banks in the EU varies with the fiscal instrument and with whether the international bank owns foreign branches or subsidiaries. Decentralized national policy-making in the EU gives rise to fiscal burdens on banks that differ internationally and with the national origin of banks in the same country. This paper discusses the international aspects of the overall fiscal regime facing banks in the EU and it evaluates some avenues for reform.     

基层税务机关纳税服务存在的问题与优化对策

纳税服务是近年来税务机关工作的重点,本文通过分析基层实际情况,指出纳税服务存在的问题,并提出了如何优化的对策。     

农村税费规范化的思路创新

由于没能有效地触及基层组织的违规行为,加之农产品价格长期扭曲以及农村实际计征税费规模严重失真,农村税费规范化进程缓慢,收效甚微。农村税费规范化应着力于明晰税费主体、精简乡村机构、规范依托标准,在"三个明确"、"四项坚持"和"五条准则"上下力气。     

税务专业实践教学体系的构建

实践教学作为本科教学中必不可少的环节,对培养大学生的实践动手能力有重要的意义,同时实践教学也是学校连接社会的重要桥梁。从社会需求来看,税务机关和企业都需要既有扎实的税收理论基础又有实际操作能力的税务人才。而目前高校税务实践课程的建设不能满足社会需求,也没有形成体系,笔者就这一问题提出了一些建议。     

Exemption vs. Credit Method in International Double Taxation Treaties

This paper examines the choice of international double taxation relief methods by two small countries that mutually exchange foreign direct investment. At the first stage, each country chooses between the exemption and the credit method (as prescribed by the OECD model treaty) and at the second stage, each country sets nationally optimal non-discriminatory capital tax rates. It is shown that in the subgame perfect equilibrium both countries choose the exemption method. Mutual application of the exemption method is also shown to yield the highest welfare for each country. While the tax export effect generally induces both countries to choose inefficiently high tax rates, this effect is weakest when both countries exempt foreign earned profits from domestic taxation.     

Positive and normative judgments implicit in U.S. tax policy,and the costs of unequal growth and recessions

Calculating the welfare implications of changes to economic policy or shocks requires economists to decide on a normative criterion. One approach is to elicit the relevant moral criteria from real-world policy choices, converting a normative decision into a positive inference, as in the recent surge of “inverse-optimum” research. We find that capitalizing on the potential of this approach is not as straightforward as we might hope. We perform the inverse-optimum inference on U.S. tax policy from 1979 through 2010 and argue that the results either undermine the normative relevance of the approach or challenge conventional assumptions upon which economists routinely rely when performing welfare evaluations.     

论我国林业税费制度改革——以内蒙古自治区根河市的调研为基础

我国现行林业税费呈现出"轻税重费"特征,带来的问题包括:有悖于公共财政的原则;催生乱收费;资金使用易出现漏洞;林区地方财政困难。这不利于林业经济的持续发展、生态环境的有效保护和我国公共财政体制的构建。其解决措施在于:将林业税费制度纳入公共财政体系;规范林业税费制度;改革育林基金;建立森林生态环境利益补偿机制。     

衍生品的税收问题：国际比较和借鉴

随着国内金融衍生市场的兴起，是否对衍生品交易进行征税以及如何征税的问题提上了日程。本文对全球成熟市场衍生品课税问题进行了梳理和对比，对国内衍生品的税收设计和管理提出了相关政策建议。