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The purpose of this paper is to criticize the current US tax system and explain in what ways taxation harms the economy. Taxes are coercive. Taxpayers are forced to pay individual income taxes. If the taxpayer refuses, several adverse consequences will unfold against him even including jail‐time. Taxes diminish taxpayer's disposable income and leave consumer's wants unattended. The money they could have used to fulfil their wants goes instead to the government in the form of taxes.

Taxation is analyzed from an economic point of view.

Progressive taxation is harmful to the economy because it punishes successful individuals. The more they earn (a reflection of the productive value they bring to the market), the more they have to pay. Meanwhile less productive citizens paying little or no tax are receiving “benefits” derived from the investment of more successful taxpayers. These are inefficient since they reduce incentives. Taking money from Peter and giving it to Paul decreases the incentive, both have to earn an income and be productive. Finally, the paper exposes the influence government has over taxpayer's decisions.

We live at a time in the US when President Obama is calling for greater taxation for the rich, and the Republicans are rejecting this initiative on the ground that it is “class war.” A study of taxation at this point cannot help but shed light on this controversy.

Considering the potential of Collaborative International Online Learning (COIL) for cross-boundaries interacting and collaborating effectively, this study aims to explore the intercultural awareness of pre-service language teachers after participating in a COIL project.

Following a quantitative research approach and an exploratory cross-sectional method, the authors administered a 13-item questionnaire to unveil the perceptions of 64 future language teachers from Spain after their online experience with counterparts from the USA.

Participants consider that COIL may have enhanced their intercultural and global awareness and equipped them with valuable skills and knowledge for the future, being women more positive than men. Moreover, the results also suggest that those participants who have not traveled abroad consider COIL to be a good opportunity to compensate for the lack of knowledge or experience with other cultures resulting from not having had the opportunity to visit other countries.

COIL needs to be seen as a powerful tool to promote global learning, intercultural understanding and the development of skills among students that will be vital for success in today’s interconnected world. Nevertheless, universities and teacher training centers need to rethink the preparation of future teachers for the increasing demands to prepare students for the requirements of the global world, and to do so, they need to consider that COIL may offer them significant benefits.

This work offers an interesting exploration of teachers’ attitudes toward COIL, providing insights into the potential of online collaboration for developing intercultural awareness.

This study aims to understand how perceived desirability and perceived feasibility influence Portuguese higher education students' social entrepreneurial intention and general entrepreneurial intention and explore how gender attitudes can affect these relationships.

This study's sample comprises 391 participants. The hypotheses formulated in the research model were tested through structural equation modelling, using the bootstrapping method to perform decomposition tests and multigroup analyses to assess the effect of gender on perceived desirability, perceived feasibility and social and general entrepreneurial intention.

The sample data reveal that women have a greater social entrepreneurial intention, and men have a greater general entrepreneurial intention. The results regarding the research model reveal that perceived desirability positively influences social and general entrepreneurial intention, with stronger relationships for men than for women. However, perceived feasibility positively influences overall entrepreneurial intention but is insignificant in explaining social entrepreneurial intention. When the differences between genders are analysed, the perceived feasibility by women is significant and positively influences the social entrepreneurial intention, not being significant when men are considered. Contrary to previous studies about higher education students, men have a higher perceived desirability in both general and social entrepreneurial intentions, while women have a stronger perceived feasibility in both general and social entrepreneurial intentions.

This paper contributes to the development of the social entrepreneurship literature, demonstrating that social entrepreneurial intention can be influenced by gender. The results show the importance of considering the spatial and organisational context in examining the relationships between perceived desirability/perceived feasibility and social entrepreneurial intentions of men and women.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the amount of online information reported by Spanish municipal-owned enterprises (MOEs) according to the legal requirements indicated in the Spanish Law 19/2013 on Transparency and Good Governance. In addition, the authors analyze how different variables can affect the extent of online information reported by such enterprises.

To do this, we conducted a content analysis of the web pages of Spanish MOEs located in cities with more than 100.000 habitants, as well as those cities that are provincial capitals. To find information about these enterprises, the authors accessed the General Intervention Board of the State Administration (IGAE) webpage (www.igae.pap.minhafp.gob.es/sitios/igae/es-ES/Paginas/inicio.aspx). This sample was composed of 273 enterprises majority owned and controlled by local governments.

The findings reveal that the amount of information reported by Spanish MOEs, in accordance with the legal requirements, is quite reduced. The most influential variables for explaining Spanish MOEs’ commitment to information disclosure are population size, political positioning of the local government and reputation.

This study seeks to contribute to the scarce literature on mandatory transparency in the public sector as well as to reinforce the degree of compliance with requirements of information disclosure.

The purpose of this paper is to develop an investment valuation model using the mezzanine debt mechanism based on blue bonds that explicitly allude to public–private partnerships (P3s) and project finance (PF). Additionally, this study proposes the financial captured value (FCV) theory for measuring how much financial value lenders may capture by becoming sponsors through financing of sustainable infrastructure systems (SIS).

The investment valuation model was validated through the Aguas Claras wastewater treatment plant as a case study.

The empirical results show that lenders may capture financial value by converting outstanding debt into equity shares throughout the operation and maintenance stage. Furthermore, case study results provide new insights into the implications of the debt–equity conversion ratio on the relationship between the sponsors’ internal rate of return and the FCV.

The most significant limitation is the lack of primary and secondary information on blue bonds. Thus, robust statistical analyses to contrast results were not possible.

Researchers and practising professionals can improve their understanding of how mezzanine debt, P3s and PF into an investment valuation model allows financing SIS using a non-conventional financial mechanism. The recommendations will benefit both the academia as well infrastructure industry in bridging the gap between design theory and practice.

Sustainability components have not been addressed explicitly or combined in the financing’s structuring. Therefore, the investment valuation model could be considered a novel methodology for decision making related to financing and investment of SIS.

The aim of this paper is to improve and adapt cascaded multilevel converters for electric vehicles (EVs) to have all the advantages of these converters and to eliminate its limitation in the use of EVs applications. Specifically, the purpose is to use only a single power source (battery pack, fuel cell, etc.) and to generate a higher power‐quality than regular multilevel converters.

This paper is based in a cascaded multilevel converter conformed by two 3‐level inverters connected in series. The voltage sources of the auxiliary inverter were replaced by floating capacitors which work as active filters, reducing the power sources to one. The floating capacitor voltages were controlled by a PI controller that adjusts the modulation index (m) to obtain a zero average power in the auxiliary inverters, and a predictive control selects the optimal redundant state to reduce the error and balance all the capacitor voltages. As the modulation index is determined by the PI controller, the output voltage magnitude must be controlled by a variable voltage source (e.g. buck‐boost chopper). Additionally, the converter works with new optimal voltage asymmetries to obtain higher power quality and capacitor control stability.

The proposed converter uses a topology that conventionally generates 9‐levels of voltage, but with the proposed asymmetry is as generate 11‐levels. Also, the auxiliary power sources were eliminated.

The proposed solution has a limited dynamic response due to the variation rate of the capacitor voltage, which is limited by the load current and the capacitance. However, the dynamic response and control stability is satisfactory for EVs applications.

The paper presents a new control to manage the floating capacitor voltages and uses new voltage asymmetries in cascaded multilevel converters.

The aim of this research is to understand how government incentives (financial and non-financial) influence the relationship between green innovation and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in SMEs.

To contribute to the literature, this research uses empirical evidence of 204 Pakistani small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and tests the moderating role of government support between green innovation and SDGs.

The findings indicate that green innovation has a significant influence on SDGs, community development and environmental activities. The government support significantly strengthens the relationship between green innovation and environmental practices, while it does not moderate the path between green innovation and community development.

The research recommends SMEs focus on the adoption of green innovation and green technology to protect the environment and facilitate the community. Moreover, the research advises the government to assist SMEs financially and nonfinancially, so they will in turn help in the attainment of SDGs.

This research is the first attempt to assess the importance of green innovation in SDGs with a moderating role of government incentives in emerging SMEs. It provides several useful implications for policymaking.