Comment on Michael A. Stegman,Walter R. Davis,and Roberto Quercia's “The Earned Income Tax Credit as an instrument of housing policy”

Abstract

The article by Stegman, Davis, and Quercia is a careful, comprehensive analysis of the current impact of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) on the housing cost burdens of working families. Its major proposal, a graduated supplement to the EITC to reflect housing costs, is compared with my broader concept of addressing severe cost burdens through supplements to major income support programs. Criticisms of my concept, chiefly administrative difficulties and incompatibility with the EITC benefit structure, are discussed.

My primary concerns are that Stegman, Davis, and Quercia's proposal does not sufficiently target families with severe housing costs and that the formula for calculating the additional benefit does not reflect diverse housing costs throughout the country and provides the smallest increases to the recipients with the lowest incomes. However, it is more important to generate discussion of the reality that “income policy IS housing policy” than to argue about details.     

Expanding the R&;E tax credit to drive innovation,competitiveness and prosperity

The research and experimentation (R&E) tax credit has long been the subject of criticism. Some argue that if the goal is more research and innovation, it’s better to increase direct federal funding of research. Others argue that the credit is not effective, that companies would do the research in any case. Some object the very notion of using tax policy to influence private sector behavior, preferring instead a more “neutral” tax code. Still others, including Tassey in this volume, point to what they see are a host of design flaws in the current credit, including that its incremental nature reduces its effectiveness. I will argue here that most of these arguments are mistaken. To promote innovation in a global economy both direct funding and indirect tax incentives are needed. The credit, while it can be improved, has been shown to be effective in stimulating research. Moreover, far from distorting the market, the credit corrects for a market failure where firms are unable to capture all of the benefits of corporate research, leading them to under invest in research. Finally, while reform and expansion are needed, it would be a mistake to shift to a completely flat credit. However, several important changes should be made including doubling the current value of the credit, modifying the Alternative Simplified Credit to become incremental, and expanding the flat credit for collaborative R&D.

Technological innovation within the Spanish tax administration and data subjects' right to access: An opportunity knocks

In this paper, we analyse the data subjects' right to access their personal data in the context of the Spanish Tax Administration and the legal consequences of the upcoming General Data Protection Regulation. The results show that there are still difficulties related to the scope of this right, the establishment of proper storage criteria, and in the procedures used by the data controllers to provide accurate information to the data subjects. This situation highlights the necessity to incorporate such technological innovation as metadata labelling and automatic computerised procedures to ensure an optimum management of the data subjects' access to their tax related personal information.     

税收协定的国内适用——基于《企业所得税法》第58条的考察

《企业所得税法》第58条试图全面解决税收协定在国内适用的三个问题,即条约的国内法效力、适用方式和法律位阶。对于如何理解第58条中的"不同规定"与"办理",存在"绝对主权说"和"国际条约说"之争。虽然两种学说的理论依据和具体主张有所不同,但它们均以维护法律体系的纯粹性为最高目标。这两种学说并不符合中国的混合一元条约适用体制。当前,中国应采取更具实质主义导向的方法适用税收协定。     

How Location Efficient Is LIHTC? Measuring and Explaining State-Level Achievement

A growing recognition that the cost of transportation should be included in calculations of housing affordability has led to efforts to promote location efficiency (LE) in affordable housing policy. Because the program is responsible for most new affordable housing in the United States, the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program has the potential to be a link between housing affordability and LE. This research analyzes the extent to which LIHTC units built between 2007 and 2011 were in location-efficient places. Ordinary least squares regression analysis was used to test the role of market, policy, developer, and urban form factors in determining state-level LIHTC LE. We find that for the nation as a whole, from a quarter to half of LIHTC units added during this period were in location-efficient places, depending on the LE criteria applied. State-by-state comparisons showed wide variation in both our absolute measures of LIHTC LE and our relative measures of LIHTC LE compared with overall housing in each state. State policy and nonprofit developers were associated with higher LIHTC LE and had a positive effect on a state’s ability to outperform its underlying urban form.     

Tax Disputes under Institutional Instability: Theory and Implications

This article aims to offer the first structural analysis of tax disputes under institutional instability using a core element of the international tax regime as an example. It offers a theory grounded on Mancur Olson's seminal contribution to group dynamics, the logic of collective action. It also suggests implications of this theory that might help to address key enforcement issues faced by the international tax regime in a frequent context worldwide: institutionally unstable countries.     

理性与宽容：逃税罪罪状的新设计

随着2009年2月《刑法修正案（七）》的颁行，偷税罪罪状内容发生了重大变化。通过对偷税罪罪状设计的历史考察，结合分析《刑法修正案（七）》中偷税罪条文内容的修改，不难发现，逃税罪罪状的新设计透射出理性与宽容的光芒，这与当下宽严相济刑事政策相契合。这反映出我国刑事立法的科学性与进步性。另外，逃税罪罪状的重新设计使得人们重新审视逃税行为的本旨等问题，因此，逃税罪罪状的新设计是刑事立法史上里程牌式的标志并非是“过誉”之词。     

俄罗斯税制改革的政治影响分析

普京上台伊始,即把发展经济、建立强大的国家确定为俄联邦的首要任务。普京认为,使俄罗斯失去其国际强势地位和独立性的很大原因是国家税收乏力,因此俄罗斯当务之急是尽快改革原有的税制结构和税收制度①。在普京的大力推动下,俄罗斯进行了大规模税制改革。以简化税制、减少税种、降低税率、减轻税负为核心的税制改革取得了很大成功,使俄罗斯“成为一个建立了良好税收制度的国家”。在此基础上,普京提出了进一步深化税改,在今后两年内全面完成税收改革的新的奋斗目标。     

税收优先权初论

税收征管法第45条确立了税收优先权制度,这对于保障国家税收的实现起到了重要作用。我国税收优先权的种类和适用范围,包括税收及滞纳金。税收优先权制度建立的理论基础包括税收人公益性、风险性要求等。由于我国税收优先权与其他债权的关系欠缺一定的公示性,将导致债权人设置抵押、质押时无法查清债务人在此之前具有欠缴税款的情形,同时税收优先于留置权的规定违反了物权法的规定。可借鉴日本和我国台湾地区的有关做法,在税收征管法修正时予以改进。     

‘The Assembly Line and Cars Come First’: Labor Relations and the Demise of Nissan Car Manufacturing in Australia

This article examines the fate of Nissan's plant in Melbourne, Australia, which the company closed in 1992. Studies of Japanese car plants that were set up in overseas markets have generally been positive, outlining how these firms were able to thrive by setting up flexible or lean production methods. In Australia, however, the company was unable to establish lean production and executives complained bitterly about union resistance to non-traditional production methods. The plant was also dogged by poor worker morale and high turnover. This is the first study of Nissan's Australian plant and it shows that not all Japanese transplants were successful.