Tax Innovation or Excise Duty in Disguise? Deviations and Distortions in Value-Added Tax in Bangladesh

The article examines and analyzes the nature of deviations and distortions in the VAT system in Bangladesh. The article argues that the Bangladesh VAT introduced in 1991—with a view to maximize tax revenue by broadening tax base and curbing tax evasion while simplifying the process—has deviated significantly from standard and international best practices. It further argues that most of the deviations have their roots in the excise system of taxation that VAT has replaced and, while some of them produce ad hoc benefits in terms of generating revenue and easing compliance, most of them, besides eroding the coherence of the tax system, defeat the core principle of VAT—self assessment. The article concludes that if the process of adulterating VAT with so many ingenious adaptations and deviations is allowed to continue, the objective of VAT to evolve as an efficient tool for maximizing revenue will remain elusive.     

Publish or Paris? Evidence of How Judges Allocate Their Time

A utility-maximizing model of judicial behavior predicts that,all else equal, judges who have stronger preferences for publishingopinions, who have lighter workloads, or who are able to writepublishable decisions more efficiently are more likely to publishtheir decisions. Using federal district court judges' decisionsregarding the constitutionality of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines,this article presents empirical support for these predictions.Many judicial, institutional, and other characteristics areexamined that should be correlated with a judge's workload orwith a judge's taste for, or efficiency in, publishing opinions.These analyses find that, all else equal, judges who held priorpolitical positions, who received higher American Bar Association(ABA) ratings, who had lighter caseloads, who had longer tenures,who struck down the guidelines, or who had a greater chanceof promotion to a U.S. court of appeals were more likely topublish their decisions. In addition, judges' publication decisionswere significantly affected by the prior decisions of judgesin the same district, but little affected by those of judgesin other districts.     

Infant and child mortality in Sudan： Case of central region

This paper uses households＇ data from central region of Sudan to examine factors that affect infant and child mortality. The education of mother and father, community variables and household income per adult are used. For this purpose, a household survey was conducted to collect data on the variables of interest from a random sample withdrawn from the study population. 600 questionnaires were distributed to households in one province of the region （out of five） where there are seven localities. The data has been analyzed using different statistical and econometric methods, including ordinary least squares method. The ordinary least squares found that child mortality is inversely associated with household income per adult, community variables and parental education. The effect of mother＇s education is more significant than father＇s education, mother＇s age is also found to be the most important factor that influences child mortality.     

Analyzing Data Remnant Remains on User Devices to Determine Probative Artifacts in Cloud Environment

Cloud storage service allows users to store their data online, so that they can remotely access, maintain, manage, and back up data from anywhere via the Internet. Although helpful, this storage creates a challenge to digital forensic investigators and practitioners in collecting, identifying, acquiring, and preserving evidential data. This study proposes an investigation scheme for analyzing data remnants and determining probative artifacts in a cloud environment. Using pCloud as a case study, this research collected the data remnants available on end‐user device storage following the storing, uploading, and accessing of data in the cloud storage. Data remnants are collected from several sources, including client software files, directory listing, prefetch, registry, network PCAP, browser, and memory and link files. Results demonstrate that the collected remnants data are beneficial in determining a sufficient number of artifacts about the investigated cybercrime.     

Writing Islamic Constitutions: Lessons from Pakistan

Muslim-majority countries often face the question of how to reconcile the place and role of religion within the framework of the nation state and a modern westernised system of constitutional ordering. And few states have wrangled with the politics of constitutionalising religion as profoundly and persistently as the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. This paper argues that insights drawn from Pakistan are pertinent as much for contemporary debates on Islam within many Muslim-majority countries as they are for wider debates on religion and politics in the modern period. It argues that when contemplating the constitutionalisation of Islam and Islamic provisions: the design and jurisdiction of the courts matter; it may be better to achieve a workable political compromise between competing parties on religious matters than to stall or strive for the realisation of some ideal; the constitution should be free of any sectarian bias; and constitution-makers must take more structural matters such as the separation of powers seriously when considering discussions on religion and politics.     

The Failures of Neo‐Liberal State Building in Iraq: Assessing Australia's Post‐Conflict Reconstruction and Development Initiatives

This article examines Australia's post‐conflict reconstruction and development initiatives in Iraq following the intervention of 2003. Overall, it finds that Australia privileged the neo‐liberal model of post‐conflict state building by investing in projects that would enhance the capacity of the new Iraqi state, its key institutions and the private sector towards the imposition of a liberal democracy and a free‐market economy. To demonstrate, this article documents the failures of the Australian government's stated aims to “support agriculture” and “support vulnerable populations” via interviews conducted in Iraq with rural farmers and tribal members and those working in, or the beneficiaries of, Iraq's disability sector. It concludes by noting that such failures are not only indicative of the inadequacy of the neo‐liberal state building model, but also that these failures point the way forward for future post‐conflict reconstruction and development projects which ought to be premised on a genuine and sustained commitment to addressing the needs of those made most vulnerable by war and regime change.