Overcoming the Impact of Corruption through Diligence: The Experience of Russian Female Managers

This article proposes that managerial time spent dealing with regulations, in addition to being a reflection of regulatory burden, can also be partially accounted by managerial strategy and propensity to “play by the rules” rather than rely on informal corrupt means to solve business problems in Russia. Using top-manager gender as a proxy for such behaviors, the study finds that firms headed by female managers are more likely to devote more time to dealing with regulations, and to protect their interests in courts. Such firms are less likely to be in a situation where corrupt requests are made, and also minimize corruption impact such as relative size of payments, when actually exposed to corruption pressures. It appears that there are non-spurious gender effect persisting after controlling for multiple firm- and region- level variables. With regards to managerial time spent on dealing with regulations in particular, it appears that the gender effects are reflected in differential responses to corrupt pressures (e.g. spending more time dealing with regulations), but increase in time tax by itself does not appear to limit impact of corruption, except waiting times for operating license, which are shortened. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.     

Institutional Differences and Local Government Performance: Evidence from Property Tax Assessment Quality

Abstract

This article examines the relationship between institutional differences embedded in local governance structures and government performance in the specific context of property assessment. In order to provide deeper insight into why certain governance structures perform better than others, we focus on the impact of nested levels of institutions—constitutional-level and substantive-level rules of governance—beyond the conventional perspective of the form of government. Based on panel data of cities and towns in New York State between 1993 and 2010, our analysis indicates that, among other institutional arrangements, municipalities employing the council–manager form with appointed assessors are most likely to achieve higher levels of assessment quality (uniformity) of the residential property. This indicates that having politically independent (more career-oriented), low-powered appointed governance structures rather than politically risk-averse (more voter-oriented), high-powered elected counterparts are more likely to be effective at reducing risk in tax equity issues, thus providing better financial performance.     

改革中国税制与西部地区发展

为了贯彻西部大开发战略,缩小东西部差距,国家的税收政策应向西部倾斜,应以着力于支持发展基础设施建设,着力于支持生态环境保护和建设,着力于支持发展特色经济等为基本原则。对设在西部地区国家鼓励类的内资企业和外商投资企业,都应给予企业所得税的减免。     

监狱生产税收政策研究

监狱生产作为一项公共产品本不涉及纳税问题。然而,我国的监狱生产借助了监狱企业这样的组织形式,并且随着市场经济的发展,现代社会的多元需求将逐渐打破监狱生产国营的垄断地位,不同所有制形式的组织将会介入监狱生产,使监狱生产面临更加复杂的纳税问题。借鉴国外政府对监狱生产的扶持政策,对探讨我国监狱生产税收政策有一定意义。     

Historical tradition and community mobilisation: narratives of Red Clydeside in memories of the anti-poll tax movement in Scotland, 1988–1990

Contemporary scholarship has shifted focus from a ‘labour history’ focused on industrial movements to a more comprehensive ‘working-class history’, encompassing the broader social parameters of protest with community and industrial struggles unified in material interest and consciousness. This article locates the poll tax non-payment campaign of 1988–1990 on Clydeside, a major expression of working-class mobilisation which contributed to the demise of Margaret Thatcher’s premiership, within this international historiography. The analysis is based on oral history interviews with twelve activists who represented all the major political trends from the non-payment campaign. The anti-poll tax movement was embedded in traditions of community mobilisation shaped by a moral economy of housing and amenities, which had roots in the First World War era ‘Red Clydeside’ struggles, and developed through the post-Second World War predominance of public sector housing. The analysis demonstrates how activists constructed narratives of their own resistance in the anti-poll tax movement within a powerful cultural circuit, where the collective memory of past mobilisations and the consciousness associated with the moral economy of housing and amenities informed contemporary perspectives and political activity. The campaign was not politically monocultural. Differences between political groups involved in the non-payment campaign are analysed showing that the need of composure (of memories) led to contrasting interpretations of Red Clydeside. These were influenced by geographical distinctions between traditional working-class areas with strong tenants’ organisations and the peripheral estates where such organisation was weaker. The impact of deindustrialisation and the welfare policies of the Thatcher government created a popular resentment in these areas. This strengthened moral economy opposition to the poll tax, whilst the traditions of community mobilisation provided effective means of harnessing this through non-payment and direct action against sheriff officers.     

¿Cómo recaudar más sin gastar mejor? Sobre las dificultades de incrementar la carga fiscal en México

This article explores how tax revenue can be increased in Mexico, especially through more collection in higher-income sectors. An overview of the Mexican government's capacity to collect taxes is offered before analyzing the reasons why tax revenue has not increased in over more than two decades. A sketch of strategies that the recent Peña Nieto administration could have followed in order to increase tax revenue in a progressive fashion is also provided. One of the article's main arguments is that without more efficient public spending, it will be difficult to collect more taxes permanently, especially in such an open economy, with institutions that are as weak as those in Mexico. Furthermore, in a democracy, there is little public acceptance for more taxes, no matter how progressive they may be, unless the government can provide certainty about more efficient public spending. For these reasons, unless the quality and progressiveness of public spending and tax collection advances, it is even undesirable that the government increase its tax revenue.     

Tax planning and tax policy in China: Case study of the tainted milk scandal

No food safety crisis has ever stirred such a national sensation in China like the tainted milk powder scandal in 2008. A further exploration of the root cause of this crisis, however, reveals something more disturbing—it is the undeveloped tax system that causes the melamine milk crisis. Because of the tension between political logic and governance logic of tax reform in China, the vacuum of public good provision becomes a burning issue since the Agricultural Tax Regulation was abolished and farmers’ economic burden became heavier than before. Thus, in order to prevent any food safety incident in the future, a sound notion of tax and an integrated system of tax planning and expenditure should be established and reinforced in the Chinese tax law.     

完善我国环境税法律制度的思考

目前,环境与发展的矛盾成为制约各国可持续发展的“瓶颈”。因此,开征环境税,建立和完善环境税法律制度是我国改善环境治理现状的必然选择。汲取西方发达国家环境税法律制度的宝贵经验,结合中国本土实际,应从妥善协调环境税费关系、改革目前有关税种、开征专项环境税、采用合适的税式支出方式、改进环境税收优惠政策等方面进行研究和探索。     

碳关税的合法性分析——以WTO为视角

WTO与碳关税有关的规则主要包括GATT1994中的边境调节税、最惠国待遇原则、关税约束原则、国民待遇原则、一般例外条款等。碳关税在本质上是一种与碳排放有关的进口环节边境调节税。GATT1994第20条可能成为碳关税合法的依据。WTO争端解决案例为分析这一问题提供了有益的资料。碳关税的设计只有满足一定的条件,才能符合WTO规则。     

关于研究开发费税前扣除税收优惠政策的解读

研究开发费税前扣除税收优惠政策,在促进民族自主创新能力形成的过程中发挥着重要的激励作用。企业应从提高对政策的重视程度、建立健全研究开发投入管理体系、规范会计核算体系和加强技术部门与财务部门的沟通四个方面入手,很好地落实此税收优惠政策。