Abschaffung der Abgeltungsteuer — gerechter und steuersystematisch einheitlicher?

There is a rising political discussion in Germany around abolishing the final withholding tax on capital income. The German tax reforms that introduced this tax lowered tax rates, in particular on interest income. According to some authors, the growing inequality of income and property is a strong argument for the higher taxation of capital income. However, other authors argue that the neutrality aspects concerning private investment are inadequate. An abolishment of the final withholding tax would not solve these problems and, moreover, would turn back the achieved improvements. Therefore, the German Council of Economic Experts suggests complementing the previous reforms by introducing an allowance for corporate equity.     

Nach der Krise: Wirksame Regelungen auf dem Finanzmarkt?

Schon w?hrend der Krise hat auf allen politischen Ebenen eine lebhafte Diskussion über eine bessere Finanzmarktregulierung eingesetzt. Einig war man sich nur in wenigen Bereichen. Und von der Umsetzung etwaiger Reformen ist die Politik noch weit entfernt. Allerdings ist auch fraglich, ob die Ansatzpunkte überhaupt richtig gew?hlt sind.     

Double income taxation as a response to tax competition in the EU

The following article discusses the undesired consequences of tax competition and presents a proposal for tax reform derived from a very general normative basis: the idea of exchange between governments and taxpayers and the principle of equality. The aim is to tie tax competition to jurisdictional competition in general and thereby maintain tax competition as a productive procedure instead of abolishing it by harmonising tax systems. Surprisingly, systematic double taxation of income, as factor income following the source principle and as citizens' income following the residence principle, is one element of the solution. The other is unitary taxation of business income.     

Accounting for preference dependency in target costing – a note

Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting - Target costing is a well-established strategic cost management tool in theory and practice. The original target costing model implies independence of...     

Investitionsschutzabkommen: mehr Rechtssicherheit oder verzicht auf Souveränität?

Bilateral investment treaties (BITs) and investor-state dispute settlements (ISDS) have become highly controversial. The authors review the evidence and discuss the pros and cons of BITs and other investment agreements. Many observers are concerned that Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) regulations on investment protection could be abused by international corporations to obtain unjustifi ed compensation from EU member states. These concerns are to some extent legitimate and should be considered more seriously in the EU negotiation strategy. International investment agreements (IIA) are necessary when host countries of FDI do not have reliable and independent judicial systems. To avoid abuse and to account for the increasing role of global production chains, agreements require more precise defi nitions, and ISDS needs to be more transparent and independent. With the EU developing its own new approach independently (and differently) from the one taken in the past by its member states, the current negotiations of “mega-regionals”, as well as the fi rst standalone EU IIA with China, offer the unique possibility to answer current critique around international investment law. Is there, in the current documents, an IIA2.0 that strengthens the right to regulate and holds up high protection standards for investors? The exclusion of ISDS from TTIP negotiations risks missing a unique chance to improve the current less than perfect international investment regime.     

Strategies for information systems implementation: The case of zero base budgeting

The objective of this study was to develop specific strategies that could be used to ease the implementation of a zero base budgeting (ZBB) information system. Drawing from the organizational design literature, a model was constructed to test a hypothesis concerning the relationship between several coping strategies and the information imbalance an organization may experience with ZBB. The results of an empirical study suggested that organizations could use certain strategies to lessen the likelihood of an unsuccessful implementation of ZBB resulting from information processing requirements exceeding information processing capacity.     

Why Most Developing Countries Should Not Try New Zealand's Reforms

During the past decade New Zealand has introduced far-reachingreforms in the structure and operation of government departmentsand agencies. This model has attracted interest in developingcountries because it promises significant gains in operationalefficiency. But developing countries, which are dominated byinformal markets, are risky candidates for applying the NewZealand model. The author suggests that basic reforms to strengthenrule-based government and pave the way for robust markets shouldbe undertaken first.