Tax mix change to reduce greenhouse gas emissions*

A pollution tax or emissions trading scheme places a price on greenhouse gas emissions. This price also is an additional indirect tax and a government revenue windfall. To restore distributional equity, to avoid compounding the efficiency costs of existing distorting taxes and to maintain macroeconomic stability, it is argued that most of the revenue windfall be recycled to households as lower income tax rates and higher social security payments. As the carbon price rises over time, new and larger tax mix change packages will be required.     

论集体土地征收与入市增值收益分配的协调

研究目的：探讨新《土地管理法》实施背景下集体土地征收与集体经营性建设用地入市土地增值收益分配的协调与衔接。研究方法：法律文本分析、法律规范解释和数据比较分析。研究结果：集体经营性建设用地入市制度建立之后,其所形成的市场价格会对集体土地征收补偿领域所设定的“区片综合地价”构成挑战,进而会在集体土地入市和集体土地征收两个领域形成不同的土地增值收益分配结果。研究结论：征收集体建设用地应当适用市场价格进行补偿;征收集体农用地的“区片综合地价”应当以“规划所允许的最佳用途”为基础进行测算;国家通过土地增值税、企业所得税、个人所得税等税收方式分享土地增值收益,为此,国家应尽快完善土地税收等配套性制度,省级人民政府则应合理设定本区域的“区片综合地价”标准,防止因为土地入市和土地征收增值收益分配不均引发大规模社会风险。     

Agricultural Taxation in Canada: An Overview and Assessment

This paper provides an overview of tax policy issues that arise with the taxation of the Canadian agricultural sector. The scope of the paper encompasses the federal income tax, the goods and services tax (GST), payroll taxes, provincial sales taxes, provincial and municipal property taxes, and excise taxes. The paper focuses primarily on measures that apply only to farmers or, in a few instances, to small business owners. The paper identifies numerous areas where additional in-depth research is required and some of the considerations that should be addressed in such analyses.     

我国资源税改革问题研究

2011年11月1日起,新的《中华人民共和国资源税暂行条例》正式施行,我国资源税改革踏上新的征程。但我国现行资源税仍存在征税范围较窄、计税方式不完善、资源价格形成机制无法与资源税改革相适应、资源税税收收入归属不科学等问题,因此,资源税改革必须向纵深化推进。应该扩大征税范围、推进从价计征方式的使用、推进资源性产品价格改革、实现资源税税收收入中央与地方共享。     

The Effects of a Federal Flat Tax on Agriculture

This study examines the impact of a federal flat tax on agriculture by determining the tax liability under the current and flat tax systems using actual farm records. The study considers the linkages between agriculture and the rest of the economy by examining the impact of a flat tax on interest rates and capital investment and how those changes would affect agriculture. Results indicate that roughly 63% of agricultural producers would benefit from a flat tax in terms of lowering taxes paid. Under the flat tax, larger farms and more profitable farms would be relatively better off.     

The efficiency of the Environmental Management Charge in the Cairns management area of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park*

Using data from a survey of more than 1000 domestic visitors to the Northern section of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) – predominantly those travelling on live‐aboard dive boats – this research investigates the (tax) efficiency of the Environmental Management Charge (EMC). The travel cost method (with a zero truncated negative binomial specification) is used to estimate the price elasticity of demand, and those estimates are used to estimate the deadweight losses, the losses in visitor numbers that could be ‘blamed’ on the EMC and the associated taxation revenues for different types of trips. The welfare loss for each dollar of revenue raised from the EMC was estimated at less than one per cent for each type of trip considered. The analysis therefore suggests that, for these types of trips in this part of the reef at least, the EMC is a very efficient tax – particularly when compared with other taxes. This has important implications beyond the GBR, particularly in countries who struggle to find sufficient funds to properly manage world heritage areas: taxes such as these may be a relatively efficient and equitable means of collecting such revenues.     

Impact of export upgrading on tax revenue in developing and high-income countries*

Empirical studies usually analyse the relationship between an economy’s trade sector and tax revenue in developing countries through the effect of trade liberalization on tax revenue. This paper takes a different angle by examining the impact of export upgrading strategies (export diversification and improvement in export quality) on non-resource tax revenue. The panel data-set covers a sample of 172 countries, including both developed and developing countries, spanning the period 1980–2010. The analysis is conducted both on the entire sample and sub-samples. The findings indicate that export product upgrading exerts a positive and significant effect on non-resource tax revenue, including for the sub-samples considered, with the exception of low-income countries for which we observe mixed results. Moreover, countries which upgrade their export products in a context of trade openness consistently experience higher non-resource tax revenue, both in the short and long term.     

U.S. sweeteners: Combating excess consumption with an excise tax?

Obesity is a public health problem in the United States that has been linked to excess sweetener consumption. The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends no more than 6–9 teaspoons/capita/day, while the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommends 200 calories/capita/day of caloric sweetener consumption. Both recommendations are well below the reported 2016 sweetener consumption levels. We quantify the input tax rates needed to reduce the current excess sweetener consumption level to the AHA and FDA recommended standards. We calculate the joint tax in the United States on two major sweeteners, sugar and High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS), to be 31 and 24 cents per pound, respectively, based on the AHA standard, and 19 and 17 cents per pound, respectively, using the FDA standard. These taxes would be roughly the magnitude of the existing sugar and HFCS prices. In both cases, the tax incidence on producers is much smaller than on consumers. Our focus is very different from past studies in that it deals with the effect of taxes on inputs to meet the recommended target rather than a selective tax (sugar‐sweetened beverage tax). If a sweetener tax were implemented, U.S. sugar and HFCS producers would lose US$398–US$489 and US$683–US$844 million per year, respectively.     

Loss of preferential access to the protected EU sugar market: Fiji's response

The Fijian government's response since 2010 to the loss of preferential access to the European Union's previously highly protected sugar market has been to increasingly support its cane growers and millers. That support is now much higher than most other countries' assistance to the sugar industry. This study provides detailed estimates of the changing extent of those transfers to producers from both taxpayers and consumers during 2010–22. In doing so, it estimates for the first time an annual time series of nominal rates of assistance to producers and consumer tax equivalent rates (NRAs and CTEs, but they are also converted to producer and consumer support estimates as defined by the OECD). Those NRA and CTE estimates have been approaching 100%. The level of support was equivalent to 10% of Fiji's agricultural value added in 2018–21 and is around 5% of its government's consolidated revenue—at a time when the government has a very high debt-to-GDP ratio (90% in 2022). Since the nature of the support is economically inefficient, inequitable, environmentally damaging and fiscally unsustainable given foreseeable market prospects, suggestions are made as to how that support might be repurposed to provide better economic, social and environmental outcomes for Fiji.     

A systematic framework of location value taxes reveals dismal policy design in most European countries

Location values have long been recognized as an attractive instrument to raise municipal revenues. First, they increase fiscal efficiency and equability compared to traditional property taxes. Second, they can be used to enhance sustainable urban planning. The question of how to design a location value tax has long been discussed in various strands of literature, but there are few efforts to create multidisciplinary approaches. This lack of reconciliation hampers the discussion on optimal designs that includes all economic, social and environmental considerations. Here we combine literature on public finances, urban economics and value capture with that of sustainable urban planning to narrow this gap. We develop a framework to assess the design characteristics of location value taxes from a sustainability perspective, and apply this framework to assess current practices in Europe. The analysis reveals severe shortcoming in policy design in most European countries, although Denmark provides a more promising example. Nonetheless, location value taxes have a high potential for improving sustainable urban planning.     

The trade and environment nexus in Mexican agriculture. A general equilibrium analysis

This paper analyzes linkages between growth, trade and the environment in Mexican agriculture with an empirical economy-wide model. The investigation considers trade liberalization, environmental policy reform, and their coordination. The analysis decomposes the change in pollution emission induced by changes in the sectoral composition of production, effects of technology on emission intensity, and aggregate Scale effects. Outward orientation alone induces a contraction of aggregate agricultural output, but promotes growth and pollution in some agricultural sectors. Overall, free trade does not induce wholesale specialization in dirty agricultural activities. Environmental taxes on pollution emitted in agricultural sectors have a moderate negative impact on agricultural output, except for the tax on water-borne toxic chemicals. More liberal trade combined with targeted effluent taxes can achieve significant environmental mitigation and efficiency gains, but with the implication of a contraction of most agricultural sectors.     

我国渔民增收机制探讨

渔民作为渔业生产最重要的主体,其收入增长在近十年呈放缓趋势,这也就导致了我国渔民人均年纯收入与城镇居民之间的差距不断拉大。论文分析了渔民增收放缓的症结包括：来源少,渔民的收入主要来源于经营性收入;支出高,生产资料涨价、渔业税费减免不力以及塘租等相关费用的提高是致使渔民支出较高的重要原因;风险大,渔业生产面临自然风、市场风险;政策偏,税费减免政策不到位,部分补贴不落实,水域占用补偿尚未规范。促进渔民增收是一项系统工程,必须多措并举,建立长效的增收机制。“进”“退”结合,退出近海和内湖捕捞,进入水产养殖业和其他行业,积极推行生态健康养殖模式,退出生产,进入服务;“权”“利”转化,积极探索捕捞权和养殖权的流转模式,通过渔业水域滩涂规划以及水域分层确权确保利益分配的合理性和规范性;“质”“量”共管,保障国内水产品供给的同时更加注重水产品品质的提升;“减”“扶”并进,加大对渔业和渔民的政策扶持力度,增加福利性收入,完善渔业政策性保险以降低生产风险;“内”“外”兼顾,利用内外两种资源,关注内外两个市场。     

Public agricultural R&D over the past half century: an emerging new world order

Recent trends in farm productivity and food prices raise concerns about whether the era of global agricultural abundance is over. Agricultural R&D is a crucial determinant of agricultural productivity and production, and therefore food prices and poverty. In this article, we present entirely new evidence on investments in public agricultural R&D worldwide as an indicator of the prospects for agricultural productivity growth over the coming decades. The agricultural R&D world is changing, and in ways that will definitely affect future global patterns of poverty, hunger, and other outcomes. The overall picture is one in which the middle‐income countries are growing in relative importance as producers of agricultural innovations through investments in R&D, and have consequently better prospects as producers of agricultural products.     

Land expansion and growth in low‐ and middle‐income countries*

Over past decades, low and middle‐income countries have experienced considerable expansion of agricultural land, yet this effect on growth has not been examined The following paper shows that the Solow‐Swan growth model can be extended to the case whereby arable land is expanding, as originally suggested by Solow (1956). This extension indicates that land expansion boosts growth, and this effect increases with the relative share of land in income. An empirical analysis over 1990–2018 for 138 low and middle‐income countries supports this finding. The growth impact of land expansion over 1990–2018 varied significantly across the sample of countries depending on how much income was derived from land. This result explains why countries dependent on agriculture have engaged in extensive land expansion: it boosts overall growth. However, these growth benefits must be weighed against the considerable environmental costs of converting forests and other natural habitat to more agricultural land, such as increased carbon emissions, loss of ecosystem services and biodiversity, risk of disease, and impacts on local livelihoods.     

Taxing Snack Foods: Manipulating Diet Quality or Financing Information Programs?

This paper investigates consumers' likely response to a proposed tax on snack foods that addresses public health issues generated by rising U.S. obesity rates. We estimate demands for particular snack foods and show they are price inelastic after accounting for quality variation. We calculate impacts of a range of ad valorem taxes on the demand for salty snack food. The impacts on dietary quality are small, and negligible at the lower tax rates. If taxes were earmarked for funding information programs, as several proponents suggest, taxes would generate a revenue stream the public health community could use for nutrition education.     

PROBLEMS OF AGRICULTURAL POLICY IN EUROPE–A DANISH POINT OF VIEW

Recent developments in the agricultural situation of Western Europe has led to inceased self-sufficiency in importing countries and stagnation in the world trade of agricultural products. An examination is made of the effects of these developments on Danish agriculture and the Danish economy, which has been subject to a very rapid change of structure. Characteristics of the Danish agricultural support policy are commented upon as well as the issue of price support versus income support in relation to the objectives of greater efficiency and improved farm structure. The importance of other measures is emphasised, including action to impove the mobility of agricultural manpower. On the basis of past experience some comments are finally made about the enlargement of E.E.C. and its possible effects on the world trade, on the situation of overseas producers, including the developing countries, and possible ways of reducing the difficulties.     

Taxation, life-time uncertainty and non-industrial private forest-owner's decision-making

The nonindustrial private forest (NIPF) owner's consumption and harvesting decisions are investigated under inheritance and capital income taxes using a two-period model. The impact of the forest-owner's age is introduced into the analysis through a parameter of perceived probability of surviving through a future period. This allows us to study the impacts of ageing on consumption and harvesting decisions as well as to see how the impact of taxes changes among different age groups of forest-owners. The results show that current consumption first decreases and then increases when moving from younger to older individuals regardless of whether non-timber assets are more or less heavily taxed through bequests than consumption. In general, we find that tax effects are dependent on the forest-owner's age. Age tends to intensify the increasing effect of the forest bequest tax on harvesting. The same is true with respect to the decreasing effect on harvesting of the inheritance tax imposed on non-forest assets. Furthermore, the forest-owner's age tends to intensify the effect on harvesting of the capital income tax imposed on forest assets, but diminishes the effect on harvesting of the capital income tax imposed on non-forest assets.     

AN EXAMINATION OF THE TAX SUBSIDIES TO THE DAIRY SECTORS IN CANADA,GERMANY NEW ZEALAND AND THE UNITED STATES

Subsidies to agricultural producers through domestic tax and social programme policies are generally not included in producer subsidy equivalent (PSE) measures. This study examines the price induced distortions of domestic tax policy and social programmes on dairy trade between Canada, New Zealand, Germany, and the United States. The degree of tax subsidisation and the price subsidies needed to offset the tax and social programme advantages enjoyed by each country are estimated using a simulation model. Study findings suggest that current German taxation policy provides a substantial subsidy to dairy producers. Canadian and US farmers also have some trade advantages because of tax policy and social programmes.     

WORLD AGRICULTURAL TRADE AND THE NEW GATT ROUND

World agricultural markets are grossly imbalanced with supplies running well ahead of demand at current depressed world prices. At the heart of the problem is the high protection given to agriculture in many OECD countries. In particular, price supports to farmers are too high and incentives to maintain or expand production too great. The success of the Uruguay Round in achieving greater liberalisation of trade in agriculture will depend on the willingness of participating governments to undertake significant reforms of domestic agricultural policies, with the aim of reducing overall protection to agriculture and switching support measures away from direct producer price support to income aid for specific disadvantaged producers. In some countries, this notion has run up against complex politico-social and structural objectives, which prevent these countries from agreeing to any significant price reduction. Price support policies, however, have been ineffective in the long run in retarding the outmigration of labour from agriculture. Measures involving only quantitative controls on production will be useful in the short run to reduce surpluses but will not solve the underlying problems which the new GATT Round must address.     

Reconsidering royalty and resource rent taxes for Australian mining

It is argued that a comparative assessment of a royalty and a resource rent tax as a special tax on the Australian mining industry should recognise the following: the importance of quasi‐rents earned on investments which shift out the mining supply curve over time, the dominance of nonresidents as buyers and as shareholders, and available data on relative costs for mines with more and less favourable natural resource endowments. Comparable tax rates for the two special taxes to generate similar government revenue are derived. For approximate revenue neutral taxes, the efficiency and distributional effects of the royalty and resource rent tax options are assessed and compared. In terms of efficiency, the superiority of one over the other is ambiguous because of imperfect knowledge about key parameters. In terms of returns to Australia, and in particular the aggregate of transfers from nonresident shareholders and export buyers, both provide similar outcomes.