Forester networks: The intersection of private lands policy and collaborative capacity

Privately owned forestland provides abundant ecosystem goods and services to society at scales beyond the individual forest parcel. However, successful mechanisms to encourage broad-scale management in privately owned, multifunctional, landscapes are relatively limited. In the United States, state agency and private foresters may be poised to help facilitate landscape-scale management given their role as gatekeepers to private landowner incentive programs or emerging markets for ecosystem goods and services. A key question remains as to the collaborative capacity of public and private sector foresters, especially in the face of evolving private forestry incentive programs, some of which have shifted toward public–private partnerships (PPP's). We used qualitative interviews and a social network survey with professional foresters in Northern Wisconsin, an area with a high demand for diverse forest ecosystem services, to identify the structure of current business networks among land managers in the region and characteristics of these relationships that may influence collaboration. Of the nearly 300 different individual professionals identified, most (86%) were state, consulting, or industry foresters, suggesting a relatively homogeneous network of professionals and potential need for other types of natural resource professionals to tie into existing foresters’ networks. We found that central network positions were occupied by all three types of foresters, while the qualitative analysis suggested the private forestry incentive program is likely driving, in part, network configuration. Interviews yielded a nuanced understanding of foresters’ relationships, including the impact of forest policy changes on public–private partnerships and specifically the growing role of private foresters in providing private lands forestry services and the need for successful mechanisms to reduce conflict and improve collaborative capacity among professionals.     

How much profit shifting do European banks do?

This paper studies whether and to what extent the largest and systemically relevant European multinational banks engage in profit shifting to lower their tax burden. We exploit unique data on bank operations reported on a country-by-country basis since 2015 in compliance with European legislation. The dataset contains information on profits, turnover, taxes paid and employment of bank affiliates worldwide, including tax and regulatory havens. In our empirical model, profits shifting incentives are captured through a weighted average of international tax rate differences between all countries where the bank is active. We find that international tax differences trigger the geographical distribution of profits within multinational banks, and that low tax jurisdictions, notably tax havens, attract disproportionately high profits. Our results suggest that, overall, 21% of profits is shifted. Moreover, profits in tax havens are 51% higher than they would be without tax-motivated profit shifting, pointing to a significant reduction of tax bases in high-tax countries.     

THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL ARGUMENTS FOR MODELING LABOR SUPPLY AS A CHOICE AMONG LATENT JOBS

Models of labor supply derived from stochastic utility representations and discretized sets of feasible hours of work have gained popularity because they are more practical than the standard approaches based on marginal calculus. In this paper we argue that practicality is not the only feature that can be addressed by means of stochastic choice theory. This theory also offers a powerful framework for developing a more realistic model for labor supply choices, founded on individuals having preferences over jobs and facing restrictions on the choice of jobs and hours of work. We discuss and clarify how this modeling framework deviates from both the conventional discrete approach [Van Soest, A. ( 1995 ) Structural models of family labor supply. A discrete choice approach. Journal of Human Resources 30: 63–88), as well as the standard textbook approach based on marginal calculus (Hausman, J.A. ( 1992 ) The econometrics of nonlinear budget sets. Econometrica 53: 1255–1282]. We furthermore discuss how the model based on job choice can be applied to simulate effects of alternative restrictions on hours of work.     

Optimal money and debt management: Liquidity provision vs tax smoothing

Conventional wisdom on public debt management says that liquidity demand should be satiated and that tax rates should be smoothed. Conflicts between the two can arise when government bonds provide liquidity. Smoothing taxes causes greater variability in fiscal balances, and therefore in the supply of government liabilities. When prices are flexible, and can jump to absorb fiscal shocks, the tradeoff between liquidity provision and tax smoothing is eased; when they conflict, optimal policy subordinates tax smoothing to satiating liquidity demand. When price fluctuations impose real costs, conflicts necessarily arise and optimal policy gives primacy to neither goal.     

Dividend taxation and household dividend portfolio decisions: evidence from the U.S. Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003

This study examines the dividend clientele hypothesis by focusing on the preferential tax treatment of qualified dividends provided by the 2003 Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act (JGTRRA) in the United States. Using the Public Use Tax File data, the author finds that the ratios of dividends to long-term capital gains before the 2003 tax act significantly declined with household tax rate differentials between dividends and long-term capital gains, but such a negative tax effect on the ratios disappears afterwards. This seemingly tax-inefficient composition of dividends and long-term capital gains after the tax act arises from households’ ability to reduce their tax burdens on stocks by exploiting the new preferential tax treatments on qualified dividends under JGTRRA. That is, households in the upper tax bracket hold significantly greater shares of qualified dividends relative to ordinary dividends after the tax act.     

我国受控外国企业税收管理研究与完善

随着经济全球化的发展,跨国投资已成为普遍现象。由于各国间的税负存在差异,受控外国企业越来越成为投资人延迟或逃避本国税收的一种工具。本文在介绍我国现行受控外国企业税制的基础上,分析了受控外国企业的税收风险,并对完善我国受控外国企业税制、加强税收征管提出了建议。     

借鉴国际经验 完善现代服务业税收政策

现代服务业的迅速发展,虽然是市场经济的自发选择,但也需要国家政策的引导和扶持。其中,作为宏观经济调控重要手段的税收政策是关系现代服务业发展的重要制度因素。本文通过对美国现代服务业税制、税收政策的比较分析与借鉴,在剖析我国现代服务业发展现状及税收政策局限的基础上,提出加快发展我国现代服务业的税收政策取向。     

环境税税收返还制度的国际经验与借鉴

税收返还制度被发达国家广泛运用于税收实践中。本文从环境税税收返还制度设计的国际经验出发,探讨了环境税税收返还制度的实施目标与操作途径,并建议在我国未来的环境税改革中,结合国情进行环境税税收返还的制度设计。     

加强大企业税收管理的探索与思考

大企业是国民经济的支柱和国家税收的重要保障。如何进一步强化对大企业的税收征管,实现对大企业税收管理的科学化、精细化、专业化,是税务部门的当务之急。本文从征管实际出发,从大企业税收管理的起步与发展入手,分析了目前大企业税收管理存在的难点与问题,阐述了加强我国大企业税收管理的主要原则,就进一步改进大企业税收管理提出了若干措施和建议。     

完善税收抵免制度 促进企业对外投资

我国既有中国特色又与国际接轨的税收抵免制度已经建立。然而,这项制度还未健全,尚需完善。本文建议我国要以促进企业对外投资为主目标,进一步加强税收抵免政策和法律法规建设;要以服务企业对外投资为出发点,进一步加强税收抵免管理体系和机制建设。