Designing a tax incentive scheme: The case of a wage tip

Governments are constantly attempting to use their tax systems for purposes other than the collection of revenue. Each such use entails difficult decisions of both design and administration. Consideration of a tax-based policy that might reduce wage inflation—a so-called TIP—serves to reveal the wide range of difficult choices that need to be made. In addition to problems of measuring the behavior of the tax payer who is to be benefited or penalized, the analyst must settle on such questions as whether the program should be permanent or temporary, whether it should emphasize rewards or punishments, and whether it should be administered by existing government agencies or by special agencies. None of these problems is insuperable. But lurking behind all of them is the question whether, is the end, the chosen policy will actually contribute to reducing wage inflation.     

THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE: A PERSPECTIVE*

Abstract: The Australian diplomatic service receives a fair degree of criticism, some misconceived, but some directed constructively at improving its economy and efficiency. The traditional objectives of Australian overseas representation are not questioned; rather the debate centres on the vast range of choice in the ways in which these broad objectives can be met—on such matters as how elaborately the task of overseas representation should be performed, where, and how large, overseas missions should be, how the diplomatic service should be staffed, and whether the pattern of coordination between the diplomatic service and other parts of the public service is appropriate. The complex issues involved in these areas of debate form part of the background against which the everyday work of the diplomatic service is set. This work includes political and economic reporting, the usual consular business, and “one-off” occasions ranging from the preparation of major bilateral treaties to war or revolution. Language and cultural differences make the carrying out of these tasks more difficult. Recruits to the diplomatic service are usually graduates in their mid-twenties with strong university qualifications, which are supplemented by formal training and by experience in different posts abroad and in Australia. The trend to greater specialization of diplomatic staff suggests a need for closer contact between the foreign service and other parts of the Australian Public Service, universities and the private sector. The past few years have been a period of questioning and criticism in all parts of the public sector, including the diplomatic service. At the same time the role played by the diplomatic service has grown more difficult. It is time that discussion focused on the key question—the need for comprehensive representation of Australia overseas—rather than on those who service this representation.     

紧急救治权问题研究

《侵权责任法》56条的规定完善了患者的紧急救治权,但是患者知情不同意的情况下,紧急救治行为是否应该进行,还是需要解决的问题。从我国相关法律对紧急救治权的规定及理论研究,国外对紧急救治权的规定及实务处理方面进行研究,继而提出对紧急救治权的完善。     

基于绿色财税政策的湘江流域治理生态补偿机制研究

由于历史和现实原因,湘江流域的生态环境问题日渐突显,影响到该流域的社会、经济、文化的发展。湘江流域生态问题是多方面的,湘江流域的治理也需要多种政策的支撑,其中绿色财税政策是重要组成部分之一。而现行的财税政策存在着许多弊端,需要从生态环境财政政策、相关税费制度与政策、市场相关机制等角度加以完善。     

Tax Expenditure Budgets, Budget Policy, and Tax Policy: Confusion in the States

A tax expenditure budget should contribute to efficient and effective public decisions by quantifying the division in the tax structure between provisions that represent revenue policy (distribute the cost of government according to the legislated tax base) and parts that represent budget policy (substitute for direct spending). For this transparency to have the desired impact, however, the tax expenditure budget process and the direct expenditure process must be properly integrated and the tax expenditure budget must make an accurate division between the parts of the tax structure. A review of the 33 states with tax expenditure systems shows many weaknesses in application of the concept and poor linkage to the direct spending budget system. Their most significant flaw is in dividing the tax structure into normal and preference elements; states need greater attention to defining their basic tax structure if they are to have a meaningful tax expenditure budget.     

Model specification in the analysis of spatial dependence

The recent surge in studies analysing spatial dependence in political science has gone hand‐in‐hand with increased attention paid to the choice of estimation technique. In comparison, specification choice has been relatively neglected, even though it leads to equally, if not more, serious inference problems. In this article four specification issues are analysed. It is argued that to avoid biased estimates of the spatial effects, researchers need to consider carefully how to model temporal dynamics, common trends and common shocks, as well as how to account for spatial clustering and unobserved spatial heterogeneity. The remaining two specification issues relate to the weighting matrix employed for the creation of spatial effects: whether it should be row‐standardised and what functional form to choose for this matrix. The importance of these specification issues is demonstrated by replicating Hays' model of spatial dependence in international capital tax rate competition. Seemingly small changes to model specification have major impacts on the spatial effect estimates. It is recommended that spatial analysts develop their theories of spatial dependencies further to provide more guidance on the specification of the estimation model. In the absence of sufficiently developed theories, the robustness of results to specification changes needs to be demonstrated.     

Easy Money: Tax Exporting and State Support for Higher Education

There is a substantial literature that assesses the effects of tax‐exporting capacities on the tax structures and aggregate spending levels that state governments choose to implement, but no work exists that isolates the effects of state tax exporting on higher education spending. Using state‐level data for 1989, 1995, 2002, and 2007, we estimate for the median voter in each state the change in the marginal cost of higher education subsidization generated by tax exportation, and calculate the increased higher education spending that results. We consider three types of spending: state appropriations to public universities as well as need‐ and non‐need‐based aid awarded to in‐state students. We find that neither type of aid is responsive to the marginal cost, or tax price, faced by the median voter. However, the median voter's price elasticity of demand for state appropriations is statistically significant and negative. We find that the median voter's tax price is substantially reduced by the presence of prominent mining and tourism industries and by the federal deductibility offset available to firms. Thus, these tax‐exporting capacities exert upward pressure on voter demand for state appropriations to public universities.     

Surplus Expenditures: A Case Study of Colorado

In this study the concept of surplus expenditures is introduced, and a theory of surplus expenditures is explored. The study examines the disposition of surplus revenues that emerged from the imposition of a binding tax and spending limit in Colorado. The study concludes that the accumulation of surplus revenue requires a major overhaul of budgetary reporting and decision making to reflect the impact of binding tax and spending limits on the budgetary process. The reporting recommendations are designed to make the budget more transparent and provide both taxpayers and legislators the information they need to make more rational decisions. The policy recommendations explore options for a more efficient and equitable disposition of surplus revenue.     

突发公共事件视域下应急财税政策探究

突发公共事件对经济社会运行秩序造成的冲击难以通过市场机制有效解决,国家出台应急财税政策防范化解突发公共事件造成的危机是政府义不容辞的职责。党的十九届五中全会也提出要"建立现代财税金融体制,加强财政资源统筹,增强国家重大战略任务财力保障"。2020年,我国运用一系列应急财税政策对冲新冠肺炎疫情影响,有效保障了疫情防控任务的高效落实和经济社会的恢复发展。探讨我国现行应急财税体制现状、问题及其优化策略,对于高效应对突发公共事件进而实现国家治理能力提升十分必要。     

Demokratie als öffentliches Gut?

Political Science neglect classical insights on constitutional and economic conditions of the so called “tax state” as a fiscal institutional architecture sui generis. While studies in Political Economy focus on distribution quality of the welfare state or compare budgets from local to international level fiscal research should also consider the capitalist structure of tax paradigm again. Only after such a regeneration the discipline could better reflect old and new democratic challenges of fiscal problems. Recalling former theories of interdependencies between fiscal, constitutional and ideological orders, this article suggests to make sense of conceptualizing democratic regime itself as prime public good. Because if it is fiscal sovereignty that is foremost to produce with democracy’s budget it should be easier to analyze tax state driven regressive effects of democratic integrity.     

Overseas investment and left policy proposals

This paper examines and extends the debate over Roy Hattersley's proposal for a tax on the earnings derived from overseas investments of U.K. residents. Two frameworks are employed to analyse the issue, loanable funds theory and a modern macroeconomic approach stemming from Buiter and Miller. It is concluded that such a tax could be effective in lowering the domestic interest rate and stimulating domestic investment, depending upon the circumstances of its imposition, but that it will also be likely to reduce net exports. Questions are raised concerning the desirability of such a policy if there is no longer a net outflow of loanable funds when a putative future Labour Government reaches power.     

Tax Evasion from a Policy Perspective: The Case of the Motor Fuels Tax

In recent years, many state legislatures have proposed, considered, and adopted legislation intended to thwart fuel tax evasion. Despite the recent political activity of state legislatures to increase fuel tax compliance, there is relatively little research examining the evasion of excise taxes in general or the motor‐fuel tax in particular. This article examines the issues of fuel tax evasion from a policy perspective. We discuss the vulnerability of the fuel tax to evasion and examine how state legislatures in the southern region have responded to the tax evasion issue. We focus the examination on four major initiatives implemented at the federal level in four broad policy areas: tax administration, penalties and punishments, liability, and visibility and enforcement. These findings provide important insight for developing new strategies to enhance compliance to the fuel tax in particular and excise taxes in general. Furthermore, we discuss how issues of fuel tax compliance can be extended to other compliance issues such as Medicare fraud.     

Demokratie oder Fiskalunion?

What challenges do European tax states face from fiscal integration? Which structural problems need to be overcome to deepen it? Building on insights from the literature on European integration, fiscal sociology and political economy, this article shows how the heterogeneity of European tax states sets high stakes for the legitimacy of further fiscal integration. It analyses the debate on a ‘fiscal union’, which shows a yawning gap here. The article concludes that fragmentation and ‘constitutionalization’ as well as the conflicts of interest and power around fiscal issues deem the democratizing impact of further integration unlikely, though not impossible.     

马克思分配正义语境中的税收调节理论及其现实指导意义

按照马克思主义的分配正义理论，按劳分配中的不公平仍然需要政府进行调剂；一定的扣除和分配必须通过政府的权威性以及立法的形式来实施，而税收是唯一通过法的形式来筹集财政收入的渠道；“按劳分配”与“按需分配”的实现都需要发挥税收的调节作用，真正的按劳分配通过税收的调节和相应的社会保障、转移支付等措施必然会导致共同富裕；但税收的征收应体现公平，应采取量能负担的原则，收入多者多缴税，还应考虑家庭人口的多少，相比利润、公债等形式，税收在调节收入分配上具有不可替代的作用；税收调节的最终目标是社会公平，而其中，直接税比间接税对高收入者的调节作用更大等。这对税收政策的制定和新一轮税制改革具有重要的指导意义。税制改革的目标应由以往的效率激励向公平、正义、有序转变。加快推进以调节收入再分配为导向的直接税体系建设，构建以完善的个人所得税为主体，以财产税和社会保障税为两翼，其他税种相互协调配合的税制体系，完善鼓励公益捐赠的税收激励机制。     

论中国纳税人宪法权利的保护

权利与义务相对应是市场经济的基本法则。随着我国市场经济的发展,我们应该转变以前那种只重视征税而不注重保护纳税人权利的观念。纳税人的权利包括宪法和税法上的两个层次,当然宪法上纳税人的权利是税法上纳税人权利的基础,文章介绍了纳税人的宪法权利,我国纳税人宪法权利的缺失,以及保护完善纳税人宪法权利的对策:一是确立税收法定主义;二是实现税的相对公平;三是实现税的相对公开。     

Often Wrong,Never Uncertain: Lessons from 40 Years of State Revenue Forecasting

Experience in state revenue forecasting humbles and educates the public finance scholar and can inform the public administrator. It teaches the limits of econometrics, the importance of disaggregation, the significance of tax administrators, the utility of causal models, the issue of data problems, the need to understand tax structure, the importance of consensus forecasts, the terror of recessions, and the reality of being wrong. In the Indiana consensus system, experience provides greater respect for public servants seeking to make a sustainable fiscal system function and probably contributes to making the revenue forecast binding in the budget process.     

论纳税人诚实推定权的入法途径

诚实推定权由纳税人财产权与人格尊严权衍生而来,在立法中加以确认有助于落实税收法定、践行量能课税和提高纳税人遵从度。诚实推定权借鉴了刑法上的无罪推定和民法上的善意推定,其基本内涵是税务机关认为纳税人有少缴税款嫌疑时,应由该机关承担举证责任,证明强度应达到优势证据标准。我国应在修改《税收征收管理法》时,明确表达纳税人享有诚实推定权,同时准确界分纳税人的协力义务和税务机关的举证责任,强调逃税行为必须具备主观故意的要件,合理限定税收检查权。诚实推定权入法将对税收征纳实践产生影响,提高现有“计税依据明显偏低”的认定标准,使纳税人的正当理由诉求更有可能被认可,对逃税行为的界定也将更为精确。     

诱惑侦查的合法性及其证明

在司法实践中,诱惑侦查的合法性是一个十分突出的问题。借鉴国外的理论与实践,我国应当以诱惑侦查的基本分类来界定其合法性。同时,为了便于评判、证明诱惑侦查的合法性,我国还应当确立合法性诱惑侦查的具体标准和诱惑侦查人员出庭作证制度。     

关于待处理财产损溢的几点认识

本文阐述了待处理财产损溢账户产生的必要性、名称的由来,对待处理财产损溢账户的适用范围、账户性质做了探讨,分析了其计价和涉及的税收处理及是否应有期末余额等。     

The redistributive impact of hypocrisy in international taxation

Why do tax havens, whose attractiveness for foreign investors depends upon financial secrecy, agree to automatically report account data to foreign governments? From a contractualist perspective, their cooperation should be motivated by the expectation of joint gains. Prior to such agreement, however, tax havens expected outflows of foreign capital and reductions in economic activity as likely outcomes. We show that the United States (US) imposed automatic information exchange on these countries without itself participating. The result is a strongly redistributive regime that worsens the economic situation of tax havens. By means of a difference‐in‐differences analysis, we ascertain a substantial and statistically significant negative effect of a US sanction threat on the value of assets held by foreigners in tax havens relative to non‐havens. The effect becomes stronger when the US is included in the non‐haven group. The analysis confirms the US's ability to redistribute financial wealth internationally through organized hypocrisy.