Suchergebnisse

The recent process of political and economic transformation in eastern European countries has not only contributed to the decentralisation of political structure but also significantly enhanced the fiscal autonomy of municipalities belonging to these countries. Although the degree of self-governing ability of municipalities seems to vary from one country to another, many similar types of public activities have recently been assigned to local governments, and some taxes were also declared to be so-called local taxes. To be sure, this type of fiscal decentralisation has caused some additional problems, particularly for safeguarding the quality of publicly provided goods and services and for coordinating intergovernmental fiscal transfers between the central and local governments in an efficient way. For instance, some criticise that a large number of small-sized municipalities in the transition economies have suffered from financial bottleneck and have not been able to receive financial support from the central government that was necessary for their economic development. However, such a fiscal devolution trend appears to continue, in parallel to the ongoing democratisation and decentralisation. This study primarily deals with crucial issues surrounding the impact of national fiscal policy and the regulatory framework on local governments' expenditure behaviour and their ability to mobilise necessary revenues (i.e. tax income, grants and municipal borrowings) under the particular consideration of the institutional and administrative cooperation with the central government and of the (still existing) lesswell developed financial market in Poland, the Slovak Republic, the Czech Republic and Hungary.

Im vorliegenden Band werden Beiträge aus einem Projekt zur Konjunkturthematik in China präsentiert. Er ist in drei Teile gegliedert. Ein erster Teil befasst sich mit den Besonderheiten Chinas bezüglich zyklischer Entwicklungen, Teil zwei präsentiert den Kenntnisstand zu Konjunkturtest- und Konjunkturprognosemethoden und prüft die Übertragbarkeit der Methoden auf andere Kulturen und Systeme. Der dritte Teil schließlich ist einigen empirischen Ergebnissen des Vorhabens gewidmet.

Die Europäische Kommission hat vorgeschlagen, das Vorsteuervergütungsverfahren zu ändern. Derzeit erfolgt die Vorsteuervergütung an nicht im Inland, sondern in einem anderen EU-Mitgliedstaat ansässige Unternehmen in Form von Erstattungen auf Antrag durch eine zentrale Behörde im Land der Umsatzsteuererhebung. Die Europäische Kommission hat in ihrem Vorschlag vom Juni 1998 empfohlen, stattdessen einen grenzüberschreitenden Vorsteuerabzug einzuführen. Das geplante Verfahren soll es den vorsteuerabzugsberechtigten Steuerpflichtigen ermöglichen, die in einem Mitgliedstaat, in welchem sie nicht ansässig sind, entrichtete Umsatzsteuer in ihrem Sitzland von der in ihrer periodischen Steuererklärung ausgewiesenen Umsatzsteuerschuld abzuziehen. Nach Überprüfung der aus einer Einführung dieses Systems resultierenden Möglichkeiten und Risiken rät das ifo Institut von einer Implementierung dieses Vorschlages ab. Stattdessen sollte das bestehende System beispielsweise durch einheitliche Formulare und einheitliche Sprachanforderungen sowie knappe Fristen für die Bearbeitung optimiert werden.

Due to its overwhelming significance among taxes on earnings in the agricultural and forestry sector, the analyses are primarily concentrated on the international comparison of effective income tax burden in the selected EU Member States as well as Canada, the United States and Japan. In this context, it is particularly stressed that, instead of applying actual earnings, the determination of taxable profits (or income) for small-sized agricultural firms takes place on the basis of standard, blanket amount of earnings in several investigated countries. In addition, national rules on real property tax are introduced in a systematic way. Furthermore, on the basis of legal information existing in the individual countries, an attempt is made in the second step to quantify the impact of such different tax systems on the basis of a model calculation. Although the rules about public subsidies for agriculture and forestry in the EU appear to be largely harmonised, the varied tax treatment of such transfers as extra earnings leads, ceteris paribus, to different effective tax burdens in the individual countries. This fact, in turn, suggests urgent needs for further political discussions on the EU level. The study consists of two parts. The former provides a general, comparative overview of taxation in agricul-ture and forestry in the investigated countries. The latter, with the so-called country reports shows the relevant laws and rules in the individual countries in more detail.

Die Europäische Kommission hat vorgeschlagen, das Vorsteuervergütungsverfahren zu ändern. Derzeit erfolgt die Vorsteuervergütung an nicht im Inland, sondern in einem anderen EU-Mitgliedstaat ansässige Unternehmen in Form von Erstattungen auf Antrag durch eine zentrale Behörde im Land der Umsatzsteuererhebung. Die Europäische Kommission hat in ihrem Vorschlag vom Juni 1998 empfohlen, stattdessen einen grenzüberschreitenden Vorsteuerabzug einzuführen. Das geplante Verfahren soll es den vorsteuerabzugsberechtigten Steuerpflichtigen ermöglichen, die in einem Mitgliedstaat, in welchem sie nicht ansässig sind, entrichtete Umsatzsteuer in ihrem Sitzland von der in ihrer periodischen Steuererklärung ausgewiesenen Umsatzsteuerschuld abzuziehen. Nach Überprüfung der aus einer Einführung dieses Systems resultierenden Möglichkeiten und Risiken rät das ifo Institut von einer Implementierung dieses Vorschlages ab. Stattdessen sollte das bestehende System beispielsweise durch einheitliche Formulare und einheitliche Sprachanforderungen sowie knappe Fristen für die Bearbeitung optimiert werden.

Due to its overwhelming significance among taxes on earnings in the agricultural and forestry sector, the analyses are primarily concentrated on the international comparison of effective income tax burden in the selected EU Member States as well as Canada, the United States and Japan. In this context, it is particularly stressed that, instead of applying actual earnings, the determination of taxable profits (or income) for small-sized agricultural firms takes place on the basis of standard, blanket amount of earnings in several investigated countries. In addition, national rules on real property tax are introduced in a systematic way. Furthermore, on the basis of legal information existing in the individual countries, an attempt is made in the second step to quantify the impact of such different tax systems on the basis of a model calculation. Although the rules about public subsidies for agriculture and forestry in the EU appear to be largely harmonised, the varied tax treatment of such transfers as extra earnings leads, ceteris paribus, to different effective tax burdens in the individual countries. This fact, in turn, suggests urgent needs for further political discussions on the EU level. The study consists of two parts. The former provides a general, comparative overview of taxation in agricul-ture and forestry in the investigated countries. The latter, with the so-called country reports shows the relevant laws and rules in the individual countries in more detail.

Due to its overwhelming significance among taxes on earnings in the agricultural and forestry sector, the analyses are primarily concentrated on the international comparison of effective income tax burden in the selected EU Member States as well as Canada, the United States and Japan. In this context, it is particularly stressed that, instead of applying actual earnings, the determination of taxable profits (or income) for small-sized agricultural firms takes place on the basis of standard, blanket amount of earnings in several investigated countries. In addition, national rules on real property tax are introduced in a systematic way. Furthermore, on the basis of legal information existing in the individual countries, an attempt is made in the second step to quantify the impact of such different tax systems on the basis of a model calculation. Although the rules about public subsidies for agriculture and forestry in the EU appear to be largely harmonised, the varied tax treatment of such transfers as extra earnings leads, ceteris paribus, to different effective tax burdens in the individual countries. This fact, in turn, suggests urgent needs for further political discussions on the EU level. The study consists of two parts. The former provides a general, comparative overview of taxation in agricul-ture and forestry in the investigated countries. The latter, with the so-called country reports shows the relevant laws and rules in the individual countries in more detail.