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.     

Sustainability-oriented tax-based own resources for the European Union: a European carbon-based flight ticket tax

The failed attempts of several European countries to introduce a flight ticket tax and the pressure on those European Union Member States still levying such a tax clearly demonstrate the limits of national aviation taxation. Assigning a carbon-based flight ticket tax to the EU level would reduce the tax enforcement problems inherent to mobile tax bases and put a stop to harmful tax competition between EU Member States. By replacing a part of national contributions to the EU budget a flight ticket tax can strengthen sustainability-orientation of the EU system of own resources. Using a new data set, which assigns to approximately 75 to 90% of the respective intra and extra EU routes flown in the year 2014 the corresponding carbon emissions per passenger, the paper estimates the expected revenue from implementing a carbon-based flight ticket tax at the EU level for carbon tax levels between 25 and 35€ per ton of carbon emissions.     

Effective Company Taxation in Poland – Some Methodological Considerations and Empirical Results

The tax burden imposed on enterprises is frequently asserted to be an important determinant of a country’s prospects in the global competition for market shares and foreign investment. The best way to measure effective company tax rates is controversial, however. The following paper examines the situation in Poland using various indicators and compares it to that in the EU-15.     

Social Security Strategies and Redistributive Effects in European Social Transfer Systems

This paper evaluates the linkage between social security strategies and redistributive effects in EU social transfer systems. It is argued that the various European systems produce different patterns of redistribution that may be explained by the adoption of different mixes of social security strategies. In support of this argument, several ideal-typical strategies are characterized and a classification of European social transfer systems is introduced. Subsequently, the redistributive effects of the systems are assessed and the relationship to their class assignment is investigated. We conclude that the redistributive effects differ markedly between systems of different classes, indicating that redistributive patterns are heavily influenced by the adopted strategy mix.     

The Dynamics of Motivation in New Organizational Forms

This paper discusses the impact of the dynamics of motivation on new organizational forms that are suited to forge value-creating knowledge transfers in teams and between organizational units and functions. Our aim is to develop the management of motivation as a source of distinctive firm competences. We argue that motivation is an endogenous variable and introduce it as a crucial link into the theory of the firm. Balancing intrinsic and extrinsic motivation helps to overcome social dilemmas in firms that are not solvable by hierarchical authority. Integrating the dynamics of motivation is a step to a more comprehensive theory of organization. It links organizational economics to the knowledge-based perspective.     

Consolidating the budget under difficult conditions — Ten guidelines viewed against Europe’s beginning consolidation programmes

There is evidence that a budget consolidation strategy can work with only a small and short-lived negative impact on growth. However, many countries are currently trying to consolidate at the same time as firms and consumers are deleveraging. We develop ten guidelines for consolidation during such a difficult economic period and cross-check whether the upcoming consolidation programmes being implemented in the EU countries comply with our guidelines. We propose following a “high road” on cutting deficits, which includes an active growth-enhancing component during the consolidation period. The active component should be financed by deeper cuts in subsidies, by eliminating obsolete government expenditure as well as by increasing the efficiency of the public sector. Taxes should not be raised permanently — a temporary contribution to consolidation will be needed, but tax structures in general should be made more growth and employment friendly.