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The purpose of this paper is to estimate the impact of Internal Revenue Code cost recovery provisions – Section 179 and “bonus depreciation” – on farm capital investment.

The authors construct a synthetic panel of data consisting of cohorts of similar farms based on state and production specialization using the USDA’s Agricultural Resource Management Survey for years 1996-2012. Employing panel data methods, the authors are able to control for time-invariant fixed effects, as well as the effects of past investment on current investment.

The authors estimate statistically significant investment demand elasticities with respect to the Section 179 expensing deduction of between 0.28 and 0.50. A change in bonus depreciation, on average, had little impact on capital investment.

The estimates suggest there is a modest effect of the cost recovery provisions on investment overall, but a stronger effect on farms that have more than $10,000 in gross cash farm income. There are other implications for the agricultural sector: the provisions may encourage technology adoption with its associated benefits, such as reduced cost of production and improved conservation practices. On the other hand, the policy could contribute to the growing concentration in production as large commercial farms expand their operated acreage to take advantage of increasingly efficient physical capital.

To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first research to use a nationally representative dataset to estimate to impact of Section 179 and “bonus depreciation” on farm investment. The findings provide evidence of the provisions’ impact on farm capital purchases.

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.

The purposes of this paper are to determine the financial, structural, and tax policy factors that influence the probability of buying machinery and the intensity of the machinery purchases on North Dakota farming operations.

A double hurdle model was used to estimate the two decisions: purchasing machinery and the intensity of the machinery purchase. Data were collected from the North Dakota Farm and Ranch Management Business Association Annual Summaries for 1993-2011.

Results demonstrated that the tax incentive provided by Section 179 deduction had the largest positive effect on machinery purchases when compared to operating profit margin, leverage ratio, producer type, and experience of the principal operator of the farm.

Section 179 deductions have changed substantially over the 19-year period studied and have not been analyzed in previous machinery investment work. This analysis puts a numerical value on the effect of Section 179 deductions over time and demonstrates the large effect tax incentives have on machinery purchase decisions and levels.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the use of accelerated depreciation deductions, which includes Section 179 and bonus depreciation, taken in the first year of asset life by Michigan farms. The frequency, value and influence of accelerated depreciation on farm investment are also analyzed.

Accrual adjusted income statements, balance sheets, depreciation schedules, and income tax information for 66 Michigan farms from 2004 to 2014 provide data for the analysis. The present value of the accelerated deduction and change in the cost of capital were calculated. Finally, investment elasticities were used to arrive at the change in investment due to accelerated depreciation.

Accelerated depreciation was utilized across all applicable asset classes. Section 179 was used more often than bonus depreciation in part because it was available in all the examined years. Based on actual farm business use, accelerated depreciation lowered the cost of capital for the operations resulting in an estimated increase in investment of 0.27 to 11.6 percent depending on asset class.

The data utilized are of a detail not available in previous investigations which used either aggregate data or estimated rather than the observed use of accelerated depreciation. This analysis reveals that accelerated depreciation as used by commercial farms lowers the cost of capital and thus encourages investment particularly in machinery and equipment.

The purpose of this research is to analyze possible implications of the economic measures presented in the balance sheet and income statement of the farm firm.

Accounting principles and the users of accounting information are studied. From a review of the Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS) questionnaire, several items are identified that limit ARMS information from fully measuring economic and financial conditions.

ARMS limitations include issues related to asset valuation, income and expense recognition, and extraordinary income reporting. In particular, data limitations on deferred taxes associated with market values exceeding cost, capital leases, prepaid rents, accrued items, Section 179 and accelerated depreciation methods, and extraordinary items may result in understatement of leverage, overstatement of liquidity, and under reporting of year‐to‐year farm income variability measures.

By identifying these limitations, changes can be made that may result in improved measures of farm financial condition and farm household well‐being.

On 12 November 2018, New Zealand's Land Transfer Act 2017 came into force. The purpose of this paper is to pinpoint some of the significant changes in the Act that challenge the fundamental concepts of the Torrens system of registration.

The paper addresses three significant reforms: a definition of land transfer fraud; the concept of immediate indefeasibility with limited judicial discretion and its impact on volunteers and the Gibbs v. Messer anomaly; and the compensation regime. Case studies illustrate the effect of these changes.

The limited legislative definition of fraud reflects the common law and allows for any necessary flexibility. The new Act reiterates the principle of immediate indefeasibility but qualifies it with the introduction of some judicial discretion. This is a novel concept for the courts and will undoubtedly be dealt with cautiously. The author voices some disquiet with regard to some of the guidelines set out in s 55(4) of the Act. The compensation provisions introduce an element of an owner's culpability. An owner now runs the risk of reduced compensation if there has been a lack of proper care.

The implications of this research are fundamental for New Zealand's land transfer system.

The limited judicial discretion will challenge the courts of New Zealand. The new compensation provisions will ensure that an owner's carelessness will be accountable.

This study is one of the first to analyse the Land Transfer Act 2017 (New Zealand). Its value extends beyond New Zealand shores as it has implications for global land transfer systems.

When a small business purchases a capital asset, its cost for tax purposes is spread over the useful life of the asset through the process of depreciation. It has become common in the USA for policy makers to enhance depreciation rules in an effort to increase business investment in a less-costly manner than across-the-board marginal tax rate cuts. Indeed, short-term depreciation policies are often billed by policy makers as a way to save America's small businesses. However, little is known about the actual effects of depreciation policies on small business activity. This paper aims to discuss these issues.

In this initial attempt to test the political claims regarding the importance of depreciation rules, the paper uses a 12-year panel of tax returns for Schedule C sole proprietors to empirically examine whether more generous depreciation policies influence small business activity at the extensive margin. Specifically, the paper estimates a series of multivariate models to explain sole proprietors’ decisions to remain in business as functions of their financial, demographic, and tax situations, including measures of the present discounted value (PDV) of a stream of tax deductions for depreciated capital under various rule structures.

Throughout the analysis, the authors are unable to find evidence that favorable depreciation rules lead to greater rates of entrepreneurial longevity among Schedule C sole proprietors.

Discrete choice results suggest that increases in the PDV of tax reductions from depreciation (e.g. depreciating the value earlier in the recovery period) might actually lead to higher probabilities of small business exit, while survival analysis finds no clear influence of depreciation on spells of small business activity.

A distinction must be drawn between a dismissal on the one hand, and on the other a repudiation of a contract of employment as a result of a breach of a fundamental term of that contract. When such a repudiation has been accepted by the innocent party then a termination of employment takes place. Such termination does not constitute dismissal (see London v. James Laidlaw & Sons Ltd (1974) IRLR 136 and Gannon v. J. C. Firth (1976) IRLR 415 EAT).

The second Plaintiff, Melton Medes Pension Trustees Ltd had in 1986 loaned some £5m from pension funds under its administration to the first Plaintiff, Melton Medes Ltd. It was in respect of this loan and its repayment that, in 1992, certain of the pension fund beneficiaries brought civil proceedings against the Plaintiffs in this action seeking compensation for losses to the fund, and proceedings against two of the directors of the Plaintiff companies seeking disclosure order, injunctive relief and appointment of a judicial trustee. These proceedings were consolidated into one action which is referred to throughout the judgment as ‘the beneficiaries' action’. Also in 1992 the Investment Management Regulatory Organisation (IMRO) investigated the affairs of the second Plaintiff which led in turn to a formal Securities and Investments Board (SIB) investigation pursuant to ss. 105 and 106 Financial Services Act (FSA) 1986. The loan which was the subject of the beneficiaries' action also formed a large part of the SIB investigation.

An Act to consolidate the Tribunals and Inquiries Acts 1958 and 1966 as amended. [27th July 1971]