Worldwide fiscal experience over the past twenty-five years indicates steady expansion in the political and academic constituency for expenditure taxation, including indirect taxes on consumption. Retail levies have emerged as the preferred method of indirect taxation of consumption, as older, pre-retail sales taxes have proven unsuited to modern economic structures. Increasingly, reform of sales taxation has involved a shift to one particular form of tax, the European Community type of value-added tax (VAT). This consumption tax option is again a topic of policy debate in North America, particularly in Canada where a VAT was under active consideration in 1985.This paper sifts through worldwide experience with broad-based sales taxes to identify lessons for tax policy in North America both in the short and longer-run. It indicates that the reputation of such taxes as regressive instruments may have been much exaggerated, and that in any case methods are available, particularly in Canada, for resolving equity issues in sales taxation. The VAT is shown to have marginal economic and administrative advantages over single-stage federal retail taxes in both Canada and the US. However, these advantages are not nearly so significant as in European countries where the VAT was adopted there. Further, sensible debate over the merits and limitations of the VAT in North America will call for much closer scrutiny of the problems unique to this form of tax. Finally, three political issues that were not significant in Europe will likely have an important bearing on any future choices of sales tax instruments, both in the U.S. and in Canada. 相似文献
Sidney Bloch and Peter Reddaway, Russia's Political Hospitals: The Abuse of Psychiatry in the Soviet Union. London: Victor Gollancz, 1977. 510 pp.
Richard B. Remnek (ed.), Social Scientists and Policy Making in the USSR. New York: Praeger Publishers, and London: Martin Robertson, 1977. xi+144 pp. £10.90.
Boris Shragin, Protivostoyanie dukka. London: Overseas Publications Interchange, 1977. 316 pp.
Murray Yanowitch, Social and Economic Inequality in the Soviet Union. London: Martin Robertson, 1977. xv+197 pp. £8.85.
Ulrich Hewer, Zentrale Planung und technischer Fortschritt. Probleme seiner Organisation und Durchsetzung am Beispiel der sowjetischen Industrie. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, 1977. Vol. 84, Series I of Giessen Monographs in Agricultural and Economic Research on Eastern Europe. 225 pp.
Donald W. Green and Christopher I. Higgins, SOVMOD I. A Macro‐econometric Model of the Soviet Union. New York and London: Academic Press, 1977. xxii+312 pp. $22.50. £15.95.
Harry G. Shaffer (ed.), Soviet Agriculture: An Assessment of Its Contributions to Economic Development. New York: Praeger Publishers and London: Martin Robertson, 1977. 167 pp. £11.70.
Connie M. Friesen, The Political Economy of East‐West Trade. New York: Praeger, 1976 and London: Martin Robertson, 1977. ix + 203 pp. £13.75.
Gunnar Adler‐Karlsson, Studien über Wirtschafts‐ und Systemvergleiche. Band 7: The Political Economy of East‐West‐South Cooperation. Vienna and New York: Springer Verlag, 1976. 208 pp. DM 48.—. S330.—.
Jozef M. van Brabant, East European Cooperation. The Role of Money and Finance. New York: Praeger Publishers, 1977. xxv+395 pp.
Martin McCauley (ed.), Communist Power in Europe 1944–1949. London: Macmillan Press, 1977. xxiii+242 pp. £10.00.
Lilly Marcou, Le Kominform. Le Communisme de guerre froide. Paris: Presses de la Fondation Nationale des Sciences Politiques, 1977. 360 pp. 120 F.
William S. Heiliger, Bibliography of the Soviet Social Sciences, Troy, New York: Whitston Publishing Co., 1978. 2 vols. v+966 pp. $65.00. 相似文献
As an evaluation of the health of Australia's political system, this article offers a perspective different from the lament over the loss of responsible government. It finds that responsible government is not compatible with representative democracy. Peculiar to Australia is conflict between 'responsible party government' and 'responsible parliamentary government'. Nevertheless, the system is healthy. A parliament-as-a-whole approach identifies key holistic functions of manifest and latent legitimation and accountability that bolster legitimacy. Political accountability is enhanced by the watchdog role of the media. Public accountability is enriched by the links between citizens and administrative review. Critical changes include the guarantee of senate independence and the removal of senate power over supply. These changes would confine the theory and practice of responsible government to the House of Representatives, promote accountability, and thus increase the legitimacy of Australian parliamentary democracy. 相似文献
It is often argued that immediate government action regarding nanotechnology is needed to ensure that public opinion does not mistakenly view nanotechnology as dangerous, to restore public trust in government, and to increase the legitimacy of government action through increased public participation. This article questions whether governments can achieve these goals. As the world lurches toward regulation of nanotechnology, we should ask Why the rush? Can anticipatory action, perceived as the government doing something, fulfill the competing hopes to “restore trust,”“pave the way” for nanotechnology, “increase awareness,” and “satisfy democratic notions of accountability”? Or is government action more likely to increase existing divisions over nanotechnology's future? 相似文献
While prior research has examined family, school, and peer factors as potential predictors of problem behavior, less attention
has been given to studying when these factors are most predictive of problems and if and when changes in these factors signal
risk. Using annual data on a community sample of 1,040 individuals (47% female; 81% White), this study models growth in risk
and protective factors during two developmental periods (Grades 5–8 and Grades 9–12) in order to predict substance misuse
and crime at age 19. For protective factors of positive relationships with family and positive bonds to school, both the levels
of these factors at Grade 5 and change between Grade 5 and Grade 8 predicted substance misuse and crime in early adulthood.
Higher likelihoods of both forms of problem behavior also were predicted by increases in the risk factor of exposure to negative
peers between 5th and 8th grade. In the late adolescent period, levels at 9th grade of all risk and protective factors examined
predicted both substance misuse and crime. Also, increases in exposure to negative peers in late adolescence predicted greater
likelihoods of both forms of problem behavior, while greater risk of substance misuse was predicted by decreases in school
bonding and academic achievement, and greater risk of crime was predicted by worsening relationships with family. The results
add to prior research by indicating that in addition to the level, change in risk and protective factors during these two
stages of development can be signals of risk and are promising targets for intervention. 相似文献
Previous work suggests that remittances enable governments to reduce spending on public services and divert resources to serve their own interests. We argue this need not occur. Building on recent work which shows that the impact of remittances is contingent on the domestic environment in remittance-receiving countries, we hypothesize that (1) remittances are more likely to increase government spending on public services in democracies than in autocracies and (2) remittances are more likely to finance activities that deter political competition in autocracies than in democracies. Using a sample of 105 developing countries from 1985 through 2008, we find strong support for our hypotheses when examining the impact of remittances on public education, health, and military spending. We also provide suggestive evidence for the mechanism underpinning our results: micro-level evidence on remittance recipients’ preferences and political engagement. 相似文献
Over the past three decades Malaysian society has undergone radical change and transformation. On one level this has been brought about by the country's rapid economic transformation, but equally significant has been the deepening Islamization of the country. From banking to law, from dress to education policy, almost no sector of Malaysian society has escaped the growing influence of Islam upon the socioeconomic and political make-up of the country. The prevalent explanation for this dynamic has been the political competition between the United Malay National Organization and the Islamic opposition party, Parti Islam Se-Malaysia, since the early 1980s. Such explanations, however, clearly marginalize the role of other societal factors and dynamics. Consequently, this article contends Islamization in Malaysia has created a series of processes that have produced results which are self-reinforcing. Ironically, the strategy for diverting the extremes of Islamic revival by co-option has actually produced a far more dynamic penetration of state and society by conservative Muslims who have become a powerful constituency supportive of the further religious coloration of government bureaucracies and programmes. 相似文献