Economic Development Subsidies and the Funding of Private Prisons

For-profit prison corporations have sold prison privatization as a tool for economic development. The idea of prisons became more appealing once for-profit prison corporation demonstrated that they could finance, build, design, and construct prisons with private capital from private investment companies. Many private prisons throughout the United States are provided local, state, and federal economic development subsidies — which may include tax advantaged financing, property tax abatements, infrastructure improvements, and personnel training and development resources. Most research on prison privatization has examined costs and quality comparisons of private run prisons to government run correctional facilities. This article examines the factors that predict economic development subsidies to private prisons, which include: economic, social control, geographic, and political factors. Logistic regression results indicate the per capita gross state product, political ideology, black male disenfranchisement, and mandatory sentencing laws predict economic development subsidies to private prison corporations.     

The Politics of Local Income Tax in Sweden: Reform and Continuity

Local authorities have played an important role in the Swedish model of the Welfare State. This state is characterised by high levels of welfare provision paid for through general taxation, the rates of which are very high and the application of uniform standards across the entire country based on the principles of equity and fairness. The main form of income for local authorities is a Local Income Tax which is paid by 85% of the population. In the 1980s and 1990s, Sweden went through an economic crisis which resulted in significant changes to the tax system, although the Local Income Tax was retained. Subsequent changes have followed a pendulum process, with deregulation of local government finances in the 1990s being followed by greater regulation in the following years. Today, Sweden is conducting a major debate about the role and functions of different levels of government in the light of social, economic and political changes in the international scene.     

Economic orthodoxy and the East Asian crisis

It is increasingly apparent that the Asian economic crisis has also led to a serious ideological crisis in the West. Before the collapse there was broad agreement among Western orthodox economists that developing countries should pursue a set of economic policies, often referred to as the 'Washington consensus', which included financial sector liberalisation, privatisation of state-owned enterprises, fiscal discipline and trade, exchange rate and foreign investment deregulation. Since the collapse, however, this consensus has broken down. This paper examines the emergence of the new so-called post-Washington consensus, with its emphasis on governance and social capital. The lexicon of the new policy paradigm underlying this new consensus includes civil society, safety nets, and, especially, governance, to be added to the conventional Washington terminology of open markets, deregulation, liberalisation and structural adjustment. Our central thesis is that this new post-Washington consensus is an attempt to place more emphasis on the political and institutional foundations for programmes of structural reform. However, it is also a kind of politics of antipolitics that attempts to insulate economic institutions from the process of political bargaining.     

Incoherence between Tax and Development Policies: the case of the Netherlands

Abstract

This article discusses incoherence between tax and development policies, a relatively new area in the debate on policy coherence for development, using a case study of the Netherlands. Dutch business entities play a key role in tax avoidance structures of multinational corporations. We argue that the Dutch tax regime facilitates the avoidance of substantial amounts of tax revenues in developing countries when compared to the Dutch aid budget. As domestic tax revenues are an important source of financing for development, this suggests that the Dutch tax policy is incompatible with the Dutch policy on development co-operation. The lack of policy coherence is largely unintended but it has structural and political causes.     

加强两岸税收合作促进两岸融合发展——基于《两岸税收协议》文本的分析

近年来,海峡两岸经济交往密切,人员来往频繁。为防范和消除重复征税,促进两岸经济合作,2015年8月25日《两岸税收协议》正式签署。本文通过对照OECD协定范本、UN协定范本及大陆与其他国家(地区)签署的税收协定或税收安排,分析《两岸税收协议》文本的主要条款,揭示其中所体现的协定立场,即大陆为促进两岸融合发展而让渡了诸多税收利益。随后从理论上分析了该协议生效后预期将产生的积极影响,包括实现税收协定通常的目的,以及增加台湾当局税收收入、减轻台湾地区纳税人税负、提升台湾经济地位等。最后展望未来,期待两岸共同努力,促成《两岸税收协议》尽早生效执行。     

‘THE GREAT DOCK AND DOLE SWINDLE’: ACCOUNTING FOR THE COSTS AND BENEFITS OF PORT TRANSPORT DEREGULATION AND THE DOCK LABOUR COMPENSATION SCHEME*

Deregulation of the port transport industry was predicted to bring much needed jobs and investment to Britain's ailing dockland areas, lower prices for port users and consumers, and improved international competitiveness. These benefits were anticipated to far exceed any attendant costs. But the benefits have failed to materialize, largely because the government failed to appreciate the non-competitive structure of the industry or the effects of the National Dock Labour Scheme on the economic performance of the ports, while the costs were substantially underestimated. Consequently, the costs of deregulation have exceeded the benefits. As in the past, current industrial policy has been dictated by the apparent‘labour problems’of the docks, but the new system of deregulation, founded on the mass redundancy of exregistered dockers and a re-assertion of managerial prerogative, has exacerbated rather than resolved the underlying structural weaknesses of the industry. In particular, deregulation has ushered in a new era of casual employment on the docks. Unless, or until, public policy addresses these problems the costs of deregulation will continue to accumulate.     

Business priorities and the relative importance of state and local economic-development incentives

State and local governments commonly use a variety of incentives to encourage economic development and business retention. Policies which include economic development incentives are commonly criticized as being ineffective and wasteful uses of public funds. This paper addresses the issue of wastefulness through a business community's assessment of the relative value of eighteen incentives commonly used for business retention and development. Results are based on survey responses from nearly 700 businesses located in Wichita, Kansas. This study illuminates differences in value assigned to incentives by different types of business. Findings indicate that state and local governments that offer incentives without consideration of business type are in many cases delivering “windfalls” to the private sector. Even such highly touted incentives as property tax abatements are not valued equally by all types of businesses. This paper provides state and local governments with an improved understanding of business investment motivation and the relative value of different incentives to effective economic development policy.     

‘Faulty’ fiscal illusion: examining the relationship between revenue diversification and tax burden in major US cities across the economic cycle

We investigate how revenue diversification affects tax burden in major U.S cities as it interacts with fiscal balance reported in the general fund over the economic cycle. We find that more diversified cities have higher tax burdens, and that this effect is strengthened when cities maintain a large surplus in the general fund. We also test models of revenue diversification's impact on tax burden using data from 1995 to 2010, separated into good fiscal years (1995-2001, 2004-2007, 2010) and bad fiscal years (2002-2003, 2008-2009). Model estimates show that greater revenue diversification leads to higher tax burden in bad fiscal years but this outcome is not found in good fiscal years. Cities seek greater revenue diversification when they are experiencing economic recessions. This study contains important implications for local financial management and contributes to the literature on revenue diversification and tax burden.     

The effect of green taxes and carbon tax shifting on the state of Minnesota

Although it is well established that taxes have a distortionary and negative effect on the economy, not all taxes are equally deleterious. This study examines the effect of a revenue neutral tax on Carbon Emissions, using the Energy 2020 and REMI models. The revenue raised by the carbon tax is off-set by corresponding reductions in other taxes (property and payroll taxes). The results indicate that the carbon emissions tax may or may not be as negative to economic growth as the taxes that they replace were. Therefore, it is possible to tax pollution, and only minorly slow or even stimulate the economy     

Between development and the state: Recasting South Korean dirigisme

This article offers an alternative understanding and a critique of how South Korea's development has been interpreted by various scholars. The proponents of developmental state overlook the fact that South Korean dirigisme harmed equity, democracy, social cohesion, and thus the people's ability to take the initiative and form a viable civil society. By considering how the state meddled with the economy as a deliberately selected course, an analysis can be made of the dysfunction of developmental statism or “diseased” dirigisme. The inequity between the deprivations suffered by small firm operators and other citizens and the gains reaped by a few business conglomerates (or chaebol), remains symptomatic of South Korea's dirigiste disease. The dominant themes in the current economic discourses are privatisation, marketisation, deregulation and the rolling‐back of the welfare state. However, liberalising the economy without state reform may aggravate the dirigiste disease in South Korea. By linking the state‐led and people‐centred arguments, this article provides a fresh discourse on principles of policy‐making and state‐action to broaden the valuation of development beyond economic efficiency or competitiveness.     

GRASSROOTS MOBILIZATIONS IN THE SOUTHWEST FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AND ECONOMIC JUSTICE

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this paper is to characterize activities of an Albuquerque based organization called the SouthWest Organizing Project. Aligning with other people of color, Chicanos in the Southwest connect to a national and international movement for environmental and economic justice to tackle the negative impacts of global restructuring. This paper presents issues and strategies regarding the expansion of Intel Corporation, the poisoning in high tech employment, anti-NAFTA position, inadequate infrastructure, and the placement of a courthouse in a long-standing community. Armed with knowledge, oppositional consciousness, principled strategies, and a politics of engagement, environmental justice activists are inserting themselves into questions of international economic integration, local economic development, neighborhood change including issues of gentrification, infrastructure, tax abatements, natural resource management, zoing, and an array of development issues.     

State-local sales tax,spillover, and economic activity: examining county governments in the US

The reliance on sales taxation has increased in both states and counties. This study aggregated county-level data and empirically explored the associations between state-local sales taxes and economic activity by industry types in county governments for the period of 1990–2013. The results revealed negative associations of sales tax rates with economic activity, especially in the manufacturing industry. Further, the findings provided the spatial dependence of economic activity across counties as a form of possible spillover. This study suggests that policymakers should pay attention to how the manufacturing and retail industries respond to any changes in sales tax rates for business activity.     

Investing in peace: foreign direct investment as economic restoration in Sierra Leone?

In peace-building and transitional justice literature economic restoration is considered central to sustainable peace in post-conflict societies. However, it is also widely recognised that many post-conflict states cannot afford mechanisms to provide restoration. Not only are many such states poor to begin with, but violent conflict further degrades their economic capacity. As a result, in their need to provide jobs, generate tax revenues, spur development and promote sustainable peace, many post-conflict states turn to alternative processes of economic restoration. This paper examines the potential for foreign direct investment (FDI) to serve as one alternative means by which to provide economic restoration in post-conflict states. Presenting findings from six months of fieldwork evaluating one such project in rural Sierra Leone, the paper describes how local people experience such projects and explores whether employment and land-lease payments can provide experiences of economic restoration so far unforthcoming from the state.     

Does it matter ‘who governs?’ Governance networks,local economic development policies,and the Great Recession

This study purports to examine whether governance networks influence cities’ use of local economic development policies, specifically business incentives, and if the role of networks changed during the Great Recession. Using American cities that responded to the International City/County Management Association’s Economic Development Survey in 2004 and 2009, hierarchical cluster analysis was employed to identify groups of cities with similar network membership patterns. The results of negative binomial regression models indicate that before the recession, the total number of actors participating in the network played a larger role in the total number of incentives provided by cities as well as the use of tax incentives. This changed in 2009 when network type emerged as the important governance-based determinant of the same variables. The results also suggest that traditional theories of economic development do not hold during times of economic and fail to explain the use of planning and labour incentives.     

csr,Tax and Development

This article explores and critically examines the connections between tax and development on the one hand and tax and corporate social responsibility (csr) on the other. It does so because, while there is increasing recognition of the importance of taxation to efforts to resource the state and to finance ways of tackling poverty, there is a surprising lack of attention to tax avoidance and evasion as a csr issue for transnational corporations operating in the South, even among those companies that pride themselves on being csr leaders. We review evidence of these trends, provide an empirical analysis of how leading firms deal with tax in their corporate reporting and make the case for including taxation as a new frontier in progressive csr.     

Globalization and economic disparities in East and Southeast Asia: New dilemmas

The once high-performing East Asian economies were suddenly rocked by the 1997 financial crisis. This raised the question of whether the crisis signals the end of the 'Asian development model' and provides further evidence of the 'globalization of poverty'. This article attempts to answer this question by examining the connection between liberalization (and deregulation) and the pattern of poverty reduction and income inequalities in four East and Southeast Asian economies severly affected by the late 1990s crisis. Based on the findings, it contests the view that globalization means the end of the role of the state. Instead, it is argued that, while some states are playing the role of promoters of the globalization process, others are redefining and resisting globalization. The crisis also has drawn attention to a possible third policy option, which would involve the revitalization of the regulatory role of the state, greater attention to social issues and a more national approach to economic management.     

Investigating Sales Tax Revenue Competition Among Principal Cities and Their Neighboring Cities in Texas

ABSTRACT

While research has explored the economic importance of principal cities on regional economies, little is known about the short-run and long-run dynamic relationships between principal cities and their neighboring cities as it pertains to their sales tax revenue elasticities and the subsequent affect this has on horizontal tax competition. Using vector error correction models on data from six principal cities in Texas, the findings of this study suggest that the relationship between principal and neighboring cities is highly dynamic and unique for each principal city. The study recommends that local economic policies should reflect these unique relationships.     

The Challenges for Developing Countries in International Tax Justice

Developing countries face three main challenges in international tax cooperation. The most widely known are the twin problems of tax avoidance by foreign investors and tax evasion by domestic actors, which have become a major focus of debate in international organisations and of civil society activism in recent years. The second problem, tax competition, incorporates a range of issues from the ‘prisoners’ dilemma’ facing countries competing for inward direct investment through to the harmful tax rules used by tax havens that enable tax avoidance and evasion. This article reviews four recent monographs that analyse these problems at an international level. While they contain much useful discussion of the problems and potential technical solutions, there remains a need for political economy research to understand why certain technical solutions have not been adopted by governments. A third challenge faced by developing countries, barely considered in the tax and development literature up to now, leads to a note of caution: international tax institutions tend to be designed in ways that place disproportionate restrictions on capital-importing countries’ ability to tax foreign investors.     

Deregulation and decentralization: Ten years’ experience with home rule in sweden

In the article the major deregulation and decentralization reforms in Sweden during the last ten years are described. There are clear connections between the different reforms. The free commune experiment in the beginning of the 1980s proved to be a battering ram for more thorough reforms, especially the new Local Government Act and the far-reaching organizational liberty which it confers on the municipalities. To a certain extent, the new Local Government Act paved the way for the radical recasting of the State funding system.