Widows and unmarried women as taxpayers in England before 1800

A variety of taxes levied at various dates between the 1540s and the early nineteenth century are analysed to ascertain whether the frequency with which widows and unmarried women are listed as taxpayers matches the ratio between the numbers of widows and unmarried women and the number of men in the adult population. Examination of the tax assessments indicates that the proportion of taxpayers who were women often fell well below their proportion in the general population. This applies in the case of all taxes levied between the sixteenth and early nineteenth centuries and regardless of whether a tax was assessed primarily on goods, houses occupied, or land owned or occupied. That double the proportion of female than of male householders were exempted from payment of the hearth tax on houses they occupied in the second half of the seventeenth century indicates that many women maintained households on very depleted resources. However, the proportion of taxpayers who were women amongst those paying the least tax did not usually exceed the proportion of women amongst those paying most tax.     

Women,family, and small business in late nineteenth century Sweden

In Sweden, unmarried women and widows had a long historical tradition of involvement in the retail trades and in handicrafts. They supervised enterprises between the death of their husbands and another male heir, and poor women had the right to become hawkers or innkeepers. During the second half of the nineteenth century, the number of unmarried women increased, and the authorities wanted to open new trades in which women could earn their own living and not become an economic burden on local government. Given these new possibilities, women developed several different strategies, which can be seen in the three Swedish towns of Sundsvall, Härnösand, and Umeå when their business history of the later part of the nineteenth century is examined. Women's business involvements exhibit the older patterns of family survival, but now add motives having to do with status maintenance and emancipation.     

Women,family, and small business in late nineteenth century Sweden

In Sweden, unmarried women and widows had a long historical tradition of involvement in the retail trades and in handicrafts. They supervised enterprises between the death of their husbands and another male heir, and poor women had the right to become hawkers or innkeepers. During the second half of the nineteenth century, the number of unmarried women increased, and the authorities wanted to open new trades in which women could earn their own living and not become an economic burden on local government. Given these new possibilities, women developed several different strategies, which can be seen in the three Swedish towns of Sundsvall, Härnösand, and Umeå when their business history of the later part of the nineteenth century is examined. Women's business involvements exhibit the older patterns of family survival, but now add motives having to do with status maintenance and emancipation.     

Bequests to widows and their property in early modern England

This paper analyses those wills made by persons with the surname Farrer between 1500 and 1849 that mention both a widow and children in order to see how different testators divided their property when the interests of more than one family member had to be considered. It is argued that the economic position of women following widowhood was weaker in the eighteenth century than it had been earlier. In the eighteenth century, fewer widows were appointed executrix of their husband's estate and fewer received a share of the residue of the estate. Relatively more bequests of houses and land went to children and not to the widow. These trends occurred in all regions we examined and were experienced by all social groups who made wills. However, while husbands in the eighteenth century were relatively less generous to their widows in their wills than their predecessors, their widows were far from destitute, often receiving some land, cash and goods in addition to a house.     

Bequests to widows and their property in early modern England

This paper analyses those wills made by persons with the surname Farrer between 1500 and 1849 that mention both a widow and children in order to see how different testators divided their property when the interests of more than one family member had to be considered. It is argued that the economic position of women following widowhood was weaker in the eighteenth century than it had been earlier. In the eighteenth century, fewer widows were appointed executrix of their husband's estate and fewer received a share of the residue of the estate. Relatively more bequests of houses and land went to children and not to the widow. These trends occurred in all regions we examined and were experienced by all social groups who made wills. However, while husbands in the eighteenth century were relatively less generous to their widows in their wills than their predecessors, their widows were far from destitute, often receiving some land, cash and goods in addition to a house.     

Regulating More Effectively: The Relationship between Procedural Justice, Legitimacy, and Tax Non-compliance

In recent years, a significant number of middle‐income taxpayers have been making use of aggressive tax planning strategies to reduce tax. In many cases, it is unclear whether these are designed and used by taxpayers to minimize tax legally or to avoid tax illegally. Those that are designed to exploit loopholes in tax law need to be dealt with in a way that restores faith and equity to the system. But how can tax authorities best manage taxpayers who may have inadvertently become involved in such illegal tax planning practices? Using longitudinal survey data, it will be shown that attempts to coerce and threaten taxpayers into compliance can undermine the legitimacy of the Tax Office's authority, which in turn can affect taxpayers' subsequent compliance behaviour. Responsive regulation, which is based on principles of procedural justice, will be discussed as an alternative enforcement strategy.     

The role of the wedding place. Community context and marital timing in nineteenth and early twentieth century Netherlands

This study investigates how community characteristics influenced the timing of marriage of men and women in nineteenth and early twentieth century Netherlands on the basis of a large scale database consisting of marriage certificates covering five provinces of the Netherlands between 1840 and 1922. The results show the significance of religious context for understanding marriage timing in the nineteenth century. Living in a predominantly Catholic community resulted in a later marriage for both men and women, while living in a community that was dominated by Orthodox Protestants resulted in an earlier marriage, particularly for men. In addition, residence in a municipality with a high mobility, a large population size and a high birth rate speeded up marriage timing among both men and women. The results indicate that religious restraint and the urbanization and openness of places are, next to parental social class, of vast importance for understanding marriage timing. As our study only addressed those who married, future research will have to show whether the same mechanisms were at work for those that experienced permanent celibacy.     

The role of the wedding place. Community context and marital timing in nineteenth and early twentieth century Netherlands

This study investigates how community characteristics influenced the timing of marriage of men and women in nineteenth and early twentieth century Netherlands on the basis of a large scale database consisting of marriage certificates covering five provinces of the Netherlands between 1840 and 1922. The results show the significance of religious context for understanding marriage timing in the nineteenth century. Living in a predominantly Catholic community resulted in a later marriage for both men and women, while living in a community that was dominated by Orthodox Protestants resulted in an earlier marriage, particularly for men. In addition, residence in a municipality with a high mobility, a large population size and a high birth rate speeded up marriage timing among both men and women. The results indicate that religious restraint and the urbanization and openness of places are, next to parental social class, of vast importance for understanding marriage timing. As our study only addressed those who married, future research will have to show whether the same mechanisms were at work for those that experienced permanent celibacy.     

降低税收遵从成本 创新纳税服务模式

纳税人需要尽可能低的税收遵从成本,而税务机关希望纳税人最大限度地遵从税法,征纳双方在税收征管的博弈有个理性选择的契合点——降低税收遵从成本。因此,研究纳税人税收遵从成本与纳税服务的相关性,探索降低企业税收遵从成本来推进纳税服务工作,通过改进纳税服务措施来降低纳税人的税收遵从成本,形成二者间的良性循环,对我国企业、税务机关和国家经济健康的发展都具有重要的意义。     

The standard of living of widows: Inventories as an indicator of the economic situation of widows

This article examines the standard of living of widows in two rural areas, South West Finland and Central Sweden, in the eighteenth and nineteenth century and among first generation migrants to Stockholm between 1680 and 1750. The principal sources used are the inventories of a person's possessions that were taken after their death, supplemented in the case of the rural populations by retirement contracts (which were not used by urban populations in the Nordic countries). Wealth is measured in three ways: examination of the type and value of the property listed in the inventory, calculating what goods might be purchased with a given inheritance, and a comparison of the inventories of widows with those of married women and with men. A range of factors, it was discovered, determined how much property a widow might own at her death. These factors included her age and whether there were children entitled to a share of the family's property but also the impact of inheritance law which awarded widows a larger share of marital property in towns than in the countryside and included the house which in rural areas was considered to belong to the family and not to any one individual. Analysis of this evidence suggests that the widows of farmers were likely to be economically secure due to the provisions in their retirement contracts which provided them with housing, food and care until their death. The situation of the widows of the landless was considerably more precarious. Some might even have nothing to inherit from their husbands.     

The standard of living of widows: Inventories as an indicator of the economic situation of widows

This article examines the standard of living of widows in two rural areas, South West Finland and Central Sweden, in the eighteenth and nineteenth century and among first generation migrants to Stockholm between 1680 and 1750. The principal sources used are the inventories of a person's possessions that were taken after their death, supplemented in the case of the rural populations by retirement contracts (which were not used by urban populations in the Nordic countries). Wealth is measured in three ways: examination of the type and value of the property listed in the inventory, calculating what goods might be purchased with a given inheritance, and a comparison of the inventories of widows with those of married women and with men. A range of factors, it was discovered, determined how much property a widow might own at her death. These factors included her age and whether there were children entitled to a share of the family's property but also the impact of inheritance law which awarded widows a larger share of marital property in towns than in the countryside and included the house which in rural areas was considered to belong to the family and not to any one individual. Analysis of this evidence suggests that the widows of farmers were likely to be economically secure due to the provisions in their retirement contracts which provided them with housing, food and care until their death. The situation of the widows of the landless was considerably more precarious. Some might even have nothing to inherit from their husbands.     

Progressive Taxation,Fairness, and Compliance*

This paper examines the preferences for income tax progressivity, other tax fairness issues, and tax compliance of a national sample of nearly six hundred heads of U.S. households. The results reveal that mean public preferences for fair tax burdens are close to actual effective tax rates; however, the similarity between average preferred and actual effective tax rates masks an underlying schism between three groups: (I) those who believe tax rates should be higher for upper income persons (steep progressives), (2) those who prefer mildly progressive tax rates (mild progressives), and (3) those who believe tax rates should be flat (“flatraters). The analysis includes demographic and fairness profiles associated with tax rate preferences. Attitudes about the overall fairness of the income tax, exchange equity with the federal government, government spending, tax complexity, and tax compliance behavior are examined. In general, respondents' stated preferences for vertical equity approximate the current distribution of the income tax burden, yet there is a relatively high consensus that the income tax is unfair, especially with regard to the ability of wealthy taxpayers to exploit loopholes to avoid paying their fair share, and that respondents regard their own tax burdens as unfair. These results suggest that providing information to the public about the relative amount of income taxes paid by upper income individuals and the effects of recent limitations on “loopholes” could improve public attitudes about the fairness of the income tax and tax compliance.     

Tax Amnesties and the Self-Selection of Risk-Averse Taxpayers

In this paper we model taxpayers participation in an unexpected tax amnesty, which can be entered by paying a fixed amount. Taxpayers are characterized by a Constant Relative Risk Aversion (CRRA) utility function and differ in relative risk aversion coefficient and in income. We show that amnesties may fail as a self-selective device to fully separate big from small evaders and to extract resources from the former. Only taxpayers whose relative risk aversion falls within a given interval participate, while those whose evasion is too small or too large do not enter. The model is used to estimate relative risk aversion and tax evasion of participants in 1991 and 1994 Italian income tax amnesties.JEL Classification: H260, D890, K420     

合伙企业所得税制度的困境和出路——从创业投资企业个人合伙人所得税争议切入

个人合伙人来源于创业投资企业的所得是否能够适用20%的所得税税率的争议,其实质是我国合伙企业所得税制度在理论上是遵循“集合论”还是“实体论”的争议。根据这两种不同理论构建的合伙企业所得税制度之间存在巨大的差别。我国对合伙企业所得税只在合伙人层面征收仅仅是一种形式上符合“集合论”的政策选择。如果以我国《个人所得税法》为前提考察有关税收规范中的具体规则可以发现,支撑我国合伙企业所得税制度的核心是“实体论”。这种形式上采用“集合论”而实质上为“实体论”的混合模式使得合伙企业所得税制度形成了独有的内在逻辑,即合伙企业虽然不作为纳税主体但其是阻隔所得穿透的实体,这需要一个理论清晰、具有普遍适用性的单行立法来体现。在不改变当前以“实体论”为主的路径下,合伙企业所得税制度的立法还应当区分有限合伙人和普通合伙人的税收待遇,从而更好地促进税负公平。     

Rural widows,economy and co-residence in the 18th and 19th centuries

Widows in the past have often been viewed either as poor and lonely or living under the control of their family members. The aim of this article is to show that the situation of widows in the 18th and 19th century Nordic countries does not necessarily correspond with these images. Law and custom provided landholding women with a certain amount of economic security in widowhood, and it seems to be relatively clear that women knew how to make use of their position. However, the frequency of co-habitation between mothers and children also indicates the creation and maintaining of mutually supportive strategies. The increasing stratification of 19th century society did on the other hand inflate the group of widows without property. As a result of running a household without a production element these widows had a greater need to launch their children into the labour market and therefore found themselves in greater need of assistance from the community in old age.     

旅游环境税的国外实践及其对我国的借鉴

环境友好型社会的构建离不开绿色税收的支持。环境税作为绿色税收的一种,调节着社会经济活动的各个方面。旅游业作为一项新兴的经济活动,也纳入了环境税的调整范围。旅游环境税的征收源于旅游业无形成本的内化,但旅游环境税除了内化无形成本、控制环境污染外,还承载着更多的促进税收公平、实现税收效率、改善财政状况、增加劳动就业等目标。西班牙巴利阿里群岛生态税作为实施旅游环境征税的成功范例,充分地说明了运用环境税在促进旅游业发展中的作用,也对我国旅游业环境税制的建立从税种设立、征税范围、扣缴义务人、计税基数、税率、征税主体等方面提供了全方位的参考。     

Rural widows,economy and co-residence in the 18th and 19th centuries

Widows in the past have often been viewed either as poor and lonely or living under the control of their family members. The aim of this article is to show that the situation of widows in the 18th and 19th century Nordic countries does not necessarily correspond with these images. Law and custom provided landholding women with a certain amount of economic security in widowhood, and it seems to be relatively clear that women knew how to make use of their position. However, the frequency of co-habitation between mothers and children also indicates the creation and maintaining of mutually supportive strategies. The increasing stratification of 19th century society did on the other hand inflate the group of widows without property. As a result of running a household without a production element these widows had a greater need to launch their children into the labour market and therefore found themselves in greater need of assistance from the community in old age.     

Women between a new marriage and an independent position: Rural widows in Bohemia in the first half of the nineteenth century

This article discusses the position of widowed rural women in early 19th-century Bohemia. It focuses on women who had been married to full peasant farmers, holders of smaller farmsteads or cottagers. The data collected are based on the method of family reconstruction, which made it possible to carry out an in-depth examination of the background of individual widows as well as of the factors which influenced the widows' future. Results show that in deciding whether to remarry, widows were not determined only by economic or demographic circumstances (their age). Rather, the decision depended on specific life experience of each widow. One of the crucial factors was whether a widow was entitled to managing the farmstead of her late husband and also the number and age of children in the family. Young widows under 35 remarried in 88% of the cases, which was only natural since they did not have enough time to fulfil their maternal needs — 62% of women under 35 had either no child or only one when they became widowed. By contrast, the majority of older widows (61% of widows aged 35–50) decided to manage the farm by themselves, since by entering into a new marriage they would compromise the inheritance shares of their existing children.     

论环境收入税

环境税主要包括收回成本型环境税、提供刺激型环境税和增加收入型环境税三种类型,而环境收入税是增加收入型环境税的主要税种。为贯彻"受益者付费原则",我国在开征排污税、污染产品税等环境税的同时,也应开征环境收入税。环境收入税应以在我国境内从事生产、经营活动并取得销售(营业)收入的的单位和个人作为其纳税义务人,以应税收入为其计税依据,适用税率为比例税率。     

Women between a new marriage and an independent position: Rural widows in Bohemia in the first half of the nineteenth century

This article discusses the position of widowed rural women in early 19th-century Bohemia. It focuses on women who had been married to full peasant farmers, holders of smaller farmsteads or cottagers. The data collected are based on the method of family reconstruction, which made it possible to carry out an in-depth examination of the background of individual widows as well as of the factors which influenced the widows' future. Results show that in deciding whether to remarry, widows were not determined only by economic or demographic circumstances (their age). Rather, the decision depended on specific life experience of each widow. One of the crucial factors was whether a widow was entitled to managing the farmstead of her late husband and also the number and age of children in the family. Young widows under 35 remarried in 88% of the cases, which was only natural since they did not have enough time to fulfil their maternal needs — 62% of women under 35 had either no child or only one when they became widowed. By contrast, the majority of older widows (61% of widows aged 35–50) decided to manage the farm by themselves, since by entering into a new marriage they would compromise the inheritance shares of their existing children.