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1 – 10 of over 45000Fadi Alasfour, Martin Samy and Roberta Bampton
This paper investigates how individuals determine their tax morale levels and tax compliance decisions. Using a questionnaire survey and a multivariate tests procedure, the paper…
Abstract
This paper investigates how individuals determine their tax morale levels and tax compliance decisions. Using a questionnaire survey and a multivariate tests procedure, the paper revealed that tax evasion is morally acceptable in Jordan under some circumstances, indeed there could be an affirmative duty to evade taxes since the government is perceived to be highly corrupted. The findings also show that while the extent of the governmental corruption has a positive (negative) effect on tax non-compliance (tax morale), the efficient expenditure of governmental tax revenues has a negative (positive) impact on tax non-compliance (tax morale). The individuals’ tax non-compliance decisions are likewise positively affected by the tax rates and by the taxation system’s being perceived as unjust, but decline with the increase of audit rates and the subsequent penalty rates. The degree and effectiveness of these determinants are dependent on the individual’s level of risk aversion, financial constraints and the surrounding referent groups. The results also confirm that individual factors play a significant role in determining the level of tax morale. Overall, the tax morale level and the compliance decision of an individual are greatly influenced by gender, age, educational level, occupational status and religious background.
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This study aims to evaluate effects of tax system reforms on tax obstacles to investment in Egypt and tax evasion. It also aims to analyze differences in burden of tax obstacles…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to evaluate effects of tax system reforms on tax obstacles to investment in Egypt and tax evasion. It also aims to analyze differences in burden of tax obstacles and extent of tax evasion among different types of enterprises after applying tax reforms.
Design/methodology/approach
The study uses data from Productivity and Investment Climate Surveys 2004 and 2008. A number of indices are constructed to measure incidence and severity of tax obstacles. Two indicators are constructed to estimate incidence and extent of tax evasion. The study adopts a descriptive analytical comparative approach to evaluate changes and differences in severity of tax obstacles, and their effects.
Findings
The results obtained show that tax reforms have resulted in a significant decrease in severity of tax obstacles. However, they are still major obstacles. The overall decrease hides differences in the burden of these obstacles. Reforms were not enough to address needs of small enterprises. The extent of tax evasion decreased. However, it is still a problem as tax obstacles are still major obstacles.
Research limitations/implications
There is a need for more detailed data about problems enterprises face in each phase of interaction with tax administrators and managers’ suggested solutions.
Originality/value
The study evaluates the actual effects of a major economic reform, on the microeconomic level during an important period rather than exploring enterprises’ expectations. The results show that there is a need for more reforms targeting small enterprises.
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Peter Huaiyu Chen, Sheen X. Liu and Chunchi Wu
Current US tax laws provide investors an incentive to time the sales of their bonds to minimize tax liability. This gives rise to a tax-timing option that affects bond value. In…
Abstract
Current US tax laws provide investors an incentive to time the sales of their bonds to minimize tax liability. This gives rise to a tax-timing option that affects bond value. In reality, corporate bond investors’ tax-timing strategy is complicated by risk of default. Existing term structure models have ignored the effect of the tax-timing option, and how much corporate bond value is due to the tax-timing option is unknown. In this chapter, we assess the effects of taxes and stochastic interest rates on the timing option value and equilibrium price of corporate bonds by considering discount and premium amortization, multiple trading dates, transaction costs, and changes in the level and volatility of interest rates. We find that the value of the tax-timing option accounts for a substantial proportion of corporate bond price even when interest rate volatility is low. Ignoring the timing option value results in overestimation of credit spread, and underestimation of default probability and the marginal investor’s income tax rate. These estimation biases generally increase with bond maturity and credit risk.
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Michael L. Roberts and Theresa L. Roberts
This chapter examines how public attitudes and judgments about tax fairness reflect distributive justice rules about proportionality/contributions, needs, and equality; fairness…
Abstract
This chapter examines how public attitudes and judgments about tax fairness reflect distributive justice rules about proportionality/contributions, needs, and equality; fairness issues that influence voluntary tax compliance (Hofmann, Hoelzl, & Kirchler, 2008; Spicer & Lundstedt, 1976). Most public polls and some prior research indicate the general public considers progressive income tax rates as fairer than flat tax rates, a reflection of the Needs rule of distributive justice theory; our 1,138 participants respond similarly. However, two-thirds of our politically representative sample of the American public actually assign “fair shares” of income taxes consistently with fairness-as-proportionality above an exempt amount of income, consistent with the Contributions rule of Equity Theory. We argue experimental assignments of fair shares of income taxes can best be understood as a combination of the Needs rule, applied by exempting incomes below the poverty line from income taxation (via current standard deductions) and taxing incomes above this exempt amount at a single tax rate (i.e., a flat-rate tax) consistent with the Proportionality/Contributions rule. Viewed in combination, these two distributive justice rules explain the tax fairness judgments of 89% of our sample and indicate surprising general agreement about what constitutes a fair share of income taxes that should be paid by US citizens from the 5th percentile to the 95th percentile of the income distribution. The joint application of these fairness rules indicates how seemingly competing, partisan distributive justice concerns can inform our understanding of social attitudes about tax fairness across income classes.
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A tax based on land value is in many ways ideal, but many economists dismiss it by assuming it could not raise enough revenue. Standard sources of data omit much of the potential…
Abstract
Purpose
A tax based on land value is in many ways ideal, but many economists dismiss it by assuming it could not raise enough revenue. Standard sources of data omit much of the potential tax base, and undervalue what they do measure. The purpose of this paper is to present more comprehensive and accurate measures of land rents and values, and several modes of raising revenues from them besides the conventional property tax.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper identifies 16 elements of land's taxable capacity that received authorities either trivialize or omit. These 16 elements come in four groups.
Findings
In Group A, Elements 1‐4 correct for the downward bias in standard sources. In Group B, Elements 5‐10 broaden the concepts of land and rent beyond the conventional narrow perception, while Elements 11‐12 estimate rents to be gained by abating other kinds of taxes. In Group C, Elements 13‐14 explain how using the land tax, since it has no excess burden, uncaps feasible tax rates. In Group D, Elements 15‐16 define some moot possibilities that may warrant further exploration.
Originality/value
This paper shows how previous estimates of rent and land values have been narrowly limited to a fraction of the whole, thus giving a false impression that the tax capacity is low. The paper adds 14 elements to the traditional narrow “single tax” base, plus two moot elements advanced for future consideration. Any one of these 16 elements indicates a much higher land tax base than economists commonly recognize today. Taken together they are overwhelming, and cast an entirely new light on this subject.
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The purpose of this paper is to examine long‐term income tax liability for Chinese public corporations from 1998 to 2007. It also studies the factors that are associated with…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine long‐term income tax liability for Chinese public corporations from 1998 to 2007. It also studies the factors that are associated with Chinese firms' long‐run effective tax rates.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper uses the measurement of long‐run effective tax rate, developed by Dyreng et al., which is measured as the sum of taxes paid over ten years divided by the sum of pretax book income over those same ten years. This paper is an empirical study using the financial report data collected from China stock market financial statement database and corporate ownership structure change from SINA Finance database. The tests include both univariate and multivariate tests.
Findings
The paper's findings are: ten‐year effective tax rates are considerably lower than the statutory tax rate; ten‐year effective tax rates vary significantly across industries and geographic areas; profitability, firm size, capital structure, and capital intensity are all associated with ten‐year effective tax rates; corporate ownership structures, i.e. tradable vs non‐tradable shares, are related to ten‐year effective tax rates.
Research limitations/implications
Given that corporate ownership has changed dramatically in China in recent years, future studies should be conducted to explore the association between effective tax rates and ownership changes.
Practical implications
The paper is of interest to the policy makers, corporate managements, and academics, who seek to examine corporate income tax burden and the factors associated with tax rates over the long term. Given that corporate ownership has changed dramatically in China in recent year, future studies should be conducted to explore the association between effective tax rates and ownership changes.
Originality/value
The paper differs from Dyreng et al.'s paper in 2007. While Dyreng et al. conduct a univariate analysis on the association between firm characteristics and long‐run effective tax rates, this paper employs multivariate regression models to examine what factors are associated with long‐run effective tax rates. Second, this paper examines the relationship between corporate ownerships and effective tax rates.
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Aim of the present monograph is the economic analysis of the role of MNEs regarding globalisation and digital economy and in parallel there is a reference and examination of some…
Abstract
Aim of the present monograph is the economic analysis of the role of MNEs regarding globalisation and digital economy and in parallel there is a reference and examination of some legal aspects concerning MNEs, cyberspace and e‐commerce as the means of expression of the digital economy. The whole effort of the author is focused on the examination of various aspects of MNEs and their impact upon globalisation and vice versa and how and if we are moving towards a global digital economy.
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The theory of macroeconomic policy that has dominated thought and policy‐making since the later 1930s is essentially one‐dimensional in the closed economy (and two dimensional in…
Abstract
The theory of macroeconomic policy that has dominated thought and policy‐making since the later 1930s is essentially one‐dimensional in the closed economy (and two dimensional in the open economy). That is to say, in a closed economy we have been taught to operate on the level of demand ‐ with any or every macroeconomic instrument. When inflation is too rapid the aim has been to use (some or all of) our policy instruments to reduce demand; and when unemployment is too high we have learned to raise it.
The purpose of this paper is to find out the factors contributing to major shifts in the growth of tax revenue through the estimation of structural breaks and analysis of major tax…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to find out the factors contributing to major shifts in the growth of tax revenue through the estimation of structural breaks and analysis of major tax regimes. Recent contributions to optimal tax theory and empirical literature on the Laffer curve effect, based on elasticity of taxable income, challenge the settled understanding on the rate-revenue relationship. In this backdrop, the objective of the paper is to find out the relative significance of changes in tax rate, tax base and administrative reforms in affecting the growth of tax revenue in India. The paper considers tax data spanning a period of six and half decades for five major components of direct and indirect taxes (corporation, personal income, customs, excise and service) of the central government of India.
Design/methodology/approach
Unknown break point(s) – single and multiple – in the tax structure are identified by using the Quandt-Andrews and Bai-Perron econometric tests. These tests were conducted for two models of growth of taxes (tax revenue and tax-NDP ratio) estimated using semi-log functions. A simulation exercise was conducted to find out the robustness of the results by varying the trimming parameter and number of breaks. An analytical framework is used to understand the factors associated with these breaks.
Findings
There is more than one break identified for every tax component as per the results of Bai–Perron test. The simulation exercise suggests that estimated breakpoints are mostly robust. Economic growth, structural changes in the economy, simplification and rationalization of tax structure, tax competition, policies such as liberalization have contributed to the changing tax regimes. Results of this study suggest that high tax rates have not been, in particular, detrimental to achieving growth in revenue and factors other than changes in tax rates have been more prominent in bringing about the shifts.
Originality/value
This is, perhaps, the first paper exploring the multiple structural breaks in the fiscal variables in India. It offers an understanding of the changing regimes of central government taxes and the underlying factors for the same.
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