Search results

This article considers the implications of the tax salience literature for the United Kingdom. First, the different categories, and definitions, of tax salience that have developed in the literature are reviewed, and some of the prescriptive implications of these terms are introduced. Tax salience refers, essentially, to the capacity of taxpayers to understand legislation. Thus, the potential reasons behind tax complexity and the potential beneficiaries of it are addressed. The article considers the contribution that the tax salience literature may make to existing analyses in the United Kingdom, particularly, in the (1) debate surrounding principles-based legislation and (2) context of newly formed government offices devoted, to some extent, to considering the role and value of salience. It is suggested that it is worth heeding the admonitions of Schenk, Gamage and Shanske, and others, that 'salience' is a layered term that should be employed with specific reference to political, economic and legal contexts. It is also acknowledged that the conclusions of some portions of the tax salience literature that legislative clarity should be included only within a list of priorities for legislative drafting, and not necessarily at the top of that list, is evocative of existing analyses of 'principles-based drafting' in the United Kingdom, New Zealand and elsewhere. Neither salience nor principles-based drafting have the potential, on their own, to 'fix' the problem of tax complexity. The article, however, considers the implications of either raising or lowering salience on the list of desirable factors in drafting, in the particular context of fostering trust between taxpayers and the state.

Beiträge der ersten 'Asian-Pacific Tax Conference', die im Juli 1983 in Singapur stattfand; behandelt wurden Themen wie Steuerhinterziehung, Steuerpolitik, Besteuerung in asiatischen Staaten und - im Vergleich - in europäischen Ländern. (DÜI-Xyl)

Surveys on tax compliance and non-compliance often rely on ad hoc formulated items which lack standardization and empirical validation. We present an inventory to assess tax compliance and distinguish between different forms of compliance and non-compliance: voluntary versus enforced compliance, tax avoidance, and tax evasion. First, items to measure voluntary and enforced compliance, avoidance, and evasion were drawn up (collected from past research and newly developed), and tested empirically with the aim of producing four validated scales with a clear factorial structure. Second, findings from the first analyses were replicated and extended to validation on the basis of motivational postures. A standardized inventory is provided which can be used in surveys in order to collect data which are comparable across research focusing on self-reports. The inventory can be used in either of two ways: either in its entirety, or by applying the single scales independently, allowing an economical and fast assessment of different facets of tax compliance.

This article considers the implications of the tax salience literature for the United Kingdom. First, the different categories, and definitions, of tax salience that have developed in the literature are reviewed, and some of the prescriptive implications of these terms are introduced. Tax salience refers, essentially, to the capacity of taxpayers to understand legislation. Thus, the potential reasons behind tax complexity and the potential beneficiaries of it are addressed. The article considers the contribution that the tax salience literature may make to existing analyses in the United Kingdom, particularly, in the (1) debate surrounding principles-based legislation and (2) context of newly formed government offices devoted, to some extent, to considering the role and value of salience. It is suggested that it is worth heeding the admonitions of Schenk, Gamage and Shanske, and others, that 'salience' is a layered term that should be employed with specific reference to political, economic and legal contexts. It is also acknowledged that the conclusions of some portions of the tax salience literature that legislative clarity should be included only within a list of priorities for legislative drafting, and not necessarily at the top of that list, is evocative of existing analyses of 'principles-based drafting' in the United Kingdom, New Zealand and elsewhere. Neither salience nor principles-based drafting have the potential, on their own, to 'fix' the problem of tax complexity. The article, however, considers the implications of either raising or lowering salience on the list of desirable factors in drafting, in the particular context of fostering trust between taxpayers and the state.

A strictly risk-averse manager makes joint decisions on a firm's tax payments and book profit declarations according to accounting standards. It is analysed how the incentives to overpay or evade taxes and to inflate book profits are influenced by (1) the composition of the manager's remuneration, (2) the ability to control the manager's actions, (3) the costs of making untruthful profit declarations, and (4) the tax rate. If the firm's owner or the government takes into account these effects when pursuing his own objectives, the changes in tax payments and book profit declarations become theoretically more ambiguous.

The purpose of this dissertation is to examine an unexplored aspect of tax expenditures: the tax-price implications of tax exemptions, deductions and credits. Although this implication of tax expenditures has not been adequately examined, two separate lines of analysis have been suggested by the existing literature. Some authors have emphasized the welfare costs of tax expenditures. To the extent that tax expenditures narrow the tax base the introduction or extension of a tax expenditure undoubtedly makes the cost of raising revenue more than it would be otherwise. This kind of cost, denoted as a welfare cost, can be incorporated into a model of individual tax-price determination. On the other hand, other authors have emphasized another tax-price implication of tax expenditures: that the introduction or extension of a tax expenditure changes the cost-shares faced by each taxpayer, exclusive of any welfare cost. Since an individual's cost-share is nothing more than his personal tax base divided by the aggregate tax base, this result emerges because a tax expenditure usually changes the individual's tax base in a manner disproportionate to the change in the aggregate tax base. This dissertation will explore and combine each line of analysis, both theoretically and empirically. In the first portion of the dissertation a model of tax-price determination is developed that explicitly incorporates the welfare cost of taxation. Various tax expenditures are then introduced into the model and their effects on individual tax-price schedules discerned. In this way the influence a tax expenditure has on an individual's choice over public sector size can be surmised. The next portion develops within the confines of a simple median voter model some potential allocative implications of various tax expenditures. This portion traces out the expected change in the median voter's desired quantity of the collective good, given various tax expenditures, via an analysis of the cost-share impact of the various tax expenditures. Although in this section welfare costs are not explicitly considered or all possible political cases outlined, the analysis does look at a set of cases that are of general interest. The final portion of the dissertation considers the influence tax expenditures taken in toto have on both the cost-sharing arrangement among individual taxpayers and the welfare cost to individual taxpayers. The results are used to gauge both the distributive and allocative implications of tax expenditures. ; Ph. D.

Das Ziel des vorliegenden Beitrages ist die Vertiefung des Verständnisses darüber, wie das russische Steuersystem im Bankbereich funktioniert und welche Implikationen dies für die Steuerreform hat. Der Beitrag beginnt mit einer Diskussion über zwei Aspekte der russischen Wirtschaftskultur, die zum Verständnis des russischen Steuersystems von Bedeutung sind, nämlich Informalität und Übereinkunft. Daran schließt sich ein Überblick über die besondere Rolle der Banken innerhalb des Steuersystems an. Dann stellt der Autor das Steuerregime vor, das gegenüber Banken angewendet wird. Ein Schwerpunkt liegt dabei auf den Aspekten, die die Banken am unzulässigsten finden. Im Anschluss daran wird die Debatte zwischen den Behörden und den Banken über die tatsächliche Steuerlast beschrieben. Der Autor geht dann auf die informellen Strategien der Banken ein, um eine Steueroptimierung zu erreichen. Der vorletzte Abschnitt beschreibt einige der formalen und informellen Methoden, durch die die fiskalischen Organe versuchen, den Steuerfluchtstrategien der Banken entgegen zu wirken. Abschließend erfolgt eine kurze Zusammenfassung. (ICDÜbers)

It is often feared that tax competition might lead to a "race to the bottom". The consequence of a decline of tax rates on capital income would be shrinking capital income tax revenues and difficulties for national governments to perform their usual tasks. The paper analyzes what happened to tax revenues in a lot of OECD countries. It turns out that taxes on capital income contribute to the financing of public expenditures in a more or less unchanged extent; in addition, there are no significant changes of the level and the structure of total tax revenues.