Taxes,International Clienteles and the Value of ADR Dividends

An alternative approach to valuing dividends is developed and applied to American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) on Australian stocks. The values of ADR dividends are estimated from the period when, due to different ex‐dividend dates, the ADRs and their underlying stocks trade with differential dividend entitlements. Australian ADR dividends are valued at less than their face value and the dividends on the underlying stocks are valued at more than their face value. This suggests that ADR dividends are priced by a clientele of US investors placing little value on the imputation tax credits attached to the dividends and that a clientele of Australian resident investors, who obtain value from imputation tax credits, price the dividends on the underlying stock.     

Keeping up or Falling behind? The Impact of Benefit and Tax Uprating on Incomes and Poverty*

Each year, the government decides how much to raise benefits and tax allowances. In the UK, the basis for these upratings is rarely debated, yet has major long‐term consequences for the relative living standards of different groups as well as for the public finances. This paper considers the medium‐term implications of present uprating policies, which vary across parameters of the tax–benefit system. Continuing these policies for 20 years, other things staying the same, would result in a near doubling of the child poverty rate alongside a substantial gain to the public finances. At the same time, pensioners are largely protected by the earnings indexation of pensioner benefits including, in time, the basic state pension. We show how difficult it will be to meet the UK child poverty targets unless the greater inequality inherent in the current regime for uprating payments and allowances is redressed.     

New development: Evaluating state revenue portfolio stability—a case of commercial casino taxes

State governments in the USA are searching for new ways to diversify their tax structure’s stability without raising existing taxes. Taxing commercial casinos on non-American Indian reservations has received significant attention to increase state revenue capacities. This article explains the impact of commercial casino tax revenue on state revenue stability.     

Understanding Changes in the Distribution and Redistribution of Income: A Unifying Decomposition Framework

In recent decades income inequality has increased in many developed countries but the role of tax and transfer reforms is often poorly understood. We propose a new method allowing for the decomposition of historical changes in income distribution and redistribution measures into: (i) the immediate effect of tax‐transfer policy reforms in the absence of behavioral responses; (ii) the effect of labor supply responses induced by these reforms; and (iii) a third component allowing us to explore the effect of changes in the distribution of a wide range of determinants, including the effect of employment changes not induced by policy reforms. The application of the decomposition to Australia reveals that the direct effect of tax‐transfer policy reforms accounts for half of the observed increase in income inequality between 1999 and 2008, while the increased dispersion of wages and capital incomes also played an important role.     

China’s Agricultural Policy Transition: Impacts of Recent Reforms and Future Scenarios

This article reviews recent developments in China’s agricultural domestic support policy, especially the transition from taxing farmers and agriculture to providing direct subsidies to grain production and purchased inputs. A model‐based quantitative analysis on the effects of these policy changes is presented. Simulation results suggest that recent policy changes have achieved the declared policy goals of increasing grain production and boosting farm income. Much of the increase in grain production and farm income can be attributed to higher per unit return to arable land, land reallocation to grain production and extra agricultural employment triggered by the policy changes. Based on the assumption that China’s public assistance to agriculture and farmers will continue and rise, two hypothetical future scenarios are simulated. Using all the support permitted under WTO de minimis limits with existing instruments, China’s policy will increase grain production, change trade patterns seemingly contrary to China’s comparative advantage, increase rural employment and significantly increase farm income (by more than 12%). If, however, decoupled instruments are applied to raise China’s agricultural domestic support to the same level, China’s agricultural production and trade will remain unchanged, rural employment remain stable, but farm income will be increased by nearly 15%.     

纳税人偷税行为原因分析与对策

对于不法纳税人的偷税问题 ,应从纳税人作为“经济人”、“社会人”、“道德人”三个角度出发 ,分析偷税行为产生的深层次原因 ,在此基础上采取诸如加强税务制度与队伍建设、提高惩罚成本、建立公平的税收体系、培养纳税人纳税道德、用税收信息化手段建立舆论监督机制等相应措施 ,借以对不法纳税人的偷税行为进行治理。     

混合寡头竞争、污染物排放与环境税

通过建立一个混合双寡头市场竞争模型,借以考察在国家征收环境税的条件下,国有企业的私有化程度对污染物排放、社会福利以及环境税率的影响。研究表明:当国有企业的私有化程度较低时,继续私有化将会导致污染物排放的增加和社会福利的增加;当国有企业的私有化程度较高时,继续私有化将会导致污染物排放的降低和社会福利的下降;同时,环境税则随着国有企业私有化程度的提高,始终保持下降趋势。     

我国增值税扩围改革研究文献述评

分税制改革后,我国形成了增值税和营业税并存的局面,分别在中央和地方财政收入中占据主要地位,这对市场经济的运行造成了一定的扭曲,不利于经济结构的转型,因此增值税扩围改革势在必行。增值税扩围意味着营业税最终被取消,建立这样一个新体制对既有利益分配格局的冲击是显而易见的,在这一改革中如何兼顾各方面的利益将是增值税扩围改革能否取得成功的关键。本文主要对近年来国内学者关于增值税扩围及其相关问题的研究成果进行梳理,以期能为改革实践和有关研究提供参考。     

“营改增”对电信业财务影响分析——以中国联通为例

以“营改增”在电信业的实施结果为研究背景,从理论角度分析“营改增”对电信业的财务影响,主要从收入、成本费用、资本支出、利润、企业税负等方面分析,以中国联通为案例进行分析企业的财务状况,得出营改增使得企业的收入下降、成本费用抵扣不足、利润下降以及税负的增加等劣势。提出改善发票管理,增加进项税额抵扣,改变管理模式,降低管理成本,应对“营改增”对电信企业的挑战,缩短电信企业对“营改增”的磨合期等相关的措施。     

Shifting Taxes from Labor to Consumption: More Employment and more Inequality?

This paper investigates the effect of shifting taxes from labor income to consumption on labor supply and the distribution of income in Germany. We simulate stepwise increases in the value‐added tax (VAT) rate, which are compensated by revenue‐neutral reductions in income‐related taxes. We differentiate between the personal income tax (PIT) and social security contributions (SSC). Based on a dual data base and a microsimulation model of household labor supply behavior, we find a regressive impact of such a tax shift in the short run. When accounting for labor supply adjustments, the adverse distributional impact persists for PIT reductions, while the overall effects on inequality and progressivity become lower when payroll taxes are reduced. This is partly due to increases in aggregate labor supply, resulting from higher work incentives.