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The purpose of this paper is to gain insight into how well past reforms have performed against revenue, equity and efficiency benchmarks of tax policymaking, so that the direction of future reform of tax system might be determined. It also presents a comparative analysis of taxation and revenue trends in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region over the data set period 1990-2012.

By overviewing the development and relative significance of resource revenues, allocating non-resource taxes and examining the tax policies of constituent countries, this paper presents a comparative review of taxation and revenue trends in the MENA region.

Findings showed, on average, a slight decline in non-resource revenues against the significant rise in income from resources. The analysis of government revenues and current taxation structures provide insight into how prior reforms have performed against the standard measures of tax policy-making (i.e. revenue, equity and efficiency) and directions for change leading to the establishment of simple tax systems. The study observes regional differences, such as the higher tax and revenues of the Maghreb sub-region over the Mashreq, except for value-added tax, where low rates were associated with equal or greater revenue. Similarities were also found, including the partial compensation by income taxes (not indirect taxes) for revenue lost through trade liberalization. The challenges of tax reform are found to vary across countries and opportunities for improving equity and reducing the complexity of tax systems across the region are identified.

Reforms in all tax systems could have major implications for the country, employment, earnings and tax revenues; but recommendations would require political value judgments and government decisions. The study suggests eliminating the current tax system, thereby replacing one of the more distortionary taxes in the current system with a neutral and efficient tax.

The paper signals the need, even of the oil-rich states of the Gulf Cooperation Council, for governments to build tax systems capable of capturing and spending revenues effectively into the future.

Environmental problems such as CO₂ (Carbon Dioxide) emissions have seriously affected the development of the steel industry, which has urged the industry to adopt a more effective emission reduction policy. This paper aims to analyze the impact of various CO₂ emission reduction policies combinations on the economic benefits and environmental changes of the steel industry and to determine the scope of application.

To compare the impact and applicable implementation conditions, a production decision game model that incorporates these two policies has been constructed. Short-, medium- and long-term constraints are set on the emission reduction indicators and the indicators’ changes under various scenarios are compared.

In the case of a single emission reduction policy, the carbon trading (CT) mechanism is better than the carbon tax mechanism. The mixed carbon trading mechanism is superior to the mixed carbon tax mechanism in terms of total output and subsidies, but worse in terms of overall social welfare, producer surplus and macro losses.

This paper constructs multiple emission reduction and production backgrounds and discusses the impact of the comprehensive implementation of these policies, which is practically absent in previous studies. It is in line with the current industrial policy for stable production and environmental protection and also provides a reference for the formulation of detailed policies in the future.

In a simple reciprocal dumping model of trade, this study scrutinizes the strategic role of trade and commodity taxes as environmental instruments when consumption of an imported product generates pollution. The results suggest that for sufficiently small values of the marginal disutility from pollution, commodity taxes can be preferred over import tariffs, and compared to the case of trade policies, free trade can be welfare dominating even for higher values of the marginal disutility from pollution when commodity taxes are used strategically as environmental instruments.

The authors employ a reciprocal dumping model of trade.

A sufficiently high marginal disutility from pollution (or sufficient asymmetries between the countries in terms of their marginal disutility from pollution) may jeopardize bilateral trade, especially if countries are given the option to set tariffs freely for imported goods (consumption of which generate environmental pollution). For sufficiently weak transboundary pollution and sufficiently low marginal disutility from pollution, (1) both Nash trade and domestic policies may prove to be helpful in addressing consumption-based pollution, and (2) it is possible to show in such a case that Nash domestic policies may be preferred over Nash trade policies, especially when both transboundary pollution and the trading partner's marginal disutility from pollution are sufficiently low.

The novel contribution of this paper is (1) to capture asymmetries among trading partners in terms of how much they account for environmental pollution when deciding on their (domestic/trade) policy measures and (2) to focus on environmental degradation that is caused by final consumption of a product imported from a trading partner.

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 study is to investigate the potential of implementing a toxicity tax for heavily polluting vehicles in United Arab Emirates. A fast-changing world needs responsive policies to cope with the crisis human beings are currently facing on earth. Implementing a new policy represents a design for a change. Policies come in the form of regulations that have been officially agreed and chosen by either a political party, business or any other type of organization. This paper adopts the policy development cycle in the Australian policy handbook as a practical framework. A focus group comprising 35 participants and two decision makers thoroughly discussed each stage of the “policy development cycle”. A qualitative analysis of the data showed that there is potential for implementing a new tax to be imposed on highly polluting vehicles in United Arab Emirates (UAE) the most appropriate policy instrument in UAE is a policy enacted through restricted law; it might take more than 3 years to work; the expected tax would range between $280 and $1,100 per year; and there is concern that this new tax would slow Dubai’s preparation for EXPO 2020. These findings will help countries implement this new tax. Following the stages of the policy development cycle and their procedures will, therefore, inspire decision makers to formulate new environmental policies not only in UAE but around the world.

This research adopts the use of “focus groups” as its primary approach to data collection. A focus group is a common qualitative research technique and involves a small number of participants. The main reason for using qualitative research is because participants are asked for open-ended responses that convey their thoughts or feelings. The author of this paper served as the moderator who posed a series of questions intended to gain insight into the group’s views on the implementation of a toxicity tax for heavy polluting vehicles in the UAE. Time and attention were given to what it is that you expect to get out of focus-group research. The group was invited for one full day to a big hall and was seated around one table. The group was sometimes divided to obtain more focused views. Overall, four primary groups participated in this study. A fifth group, consisting of three senior members of a governmental agency who acted as decision makers, took part in one-to-one interviews at their place of work. Table I provides details on the backgrounds of the participant.

Research highlights the policy development cycle to investigate a new transport policy in UAE. A focus group comprising 35 participants and two interviews with two decision makers. There is potential for a tax to be imposed on highly polluting vehicles in UAE. The expected tax would range between $280 and $1,100 per year. The best policy instrument in the region is policy by law. The truck industry will be affected, and there will be a public refusal.

A new policy of implementing tax for high polluting vehicles was, therefore, discussed in this paper. Participants thought the tax would work, but an in-depth feasibility study on both microeconomic and macroeconomic aspects will be required; providing governmental incentives will help support the shift to less-polluting vehicles.

The policy development cycle was utilized as a practical framework for this research.

People were engaged into this study to make the policy viable. People will react positively to this policy.

Due to the lack of such research in this area, this paper will fill a gap in the knowledge. Moreover, the policy will be real implementation based on this publication. The findings will not only help UAE but also many countries that share same environmental and social contexts.

Public dislike of taxes led to tax revolt and tax reform. Despite the connection between tax attitudes and tax policy, relatively little is known about public attitudes toward taxes over time, and how public opinion either shapes or is shaped by changes in tax policy. We examine the link between opinion and changes in tax policy in Florida, where the public’s view of sales and property taxes was surveyed consistently from 1979-1997, a time when both taxes changed significantly. This combination of tax reform and survey data allows us to observe the pattern of public opinion before, during, and after changes in tax policy, and to draw inferences about whether public opinion leads or lags state action, while examining common explanations for individual differences in opinion. Among other things, our results indicate that the portrait of an anti-tax populace is overdrawn and that the pattern of opinion differs for each tax.

This paper aims to explore how upstream supply chain companies will control the carbon emissions and price decisions of products when the government implements environmental tax policy on consumers. It provides some suggestions to control carbon emissions for the government and manufacturers.

This study establishes two-echelon Stackelberg game models with and without the implementation of environmental tax policy on consumers in a centralized scenario and a decentralized scenario. Through the comparative analysis of the four models, the optimal emission abatement and pricing strategies are obtained.

This paper concludes that implementing environmental tax policy on consumers within the market’s acceptable range is more beneficial to the retailer and the environment, as well as the overall social welfare, except for the manufacturer. Moreover, consumer’s low-carbon preference always has a broader impact on carbon abatement and corporate profits than environmental tax coefficient. Finally, the side-payment self-executing contract can effectively ensure that the supply chain members make rational decisions spontaneously while achieving a win-win solution of centralized scenario.

This paper first considers how the government’s environmental tax policy on consumers will affect the decision-making of supply chain companies, and proposes an improved side-payment self-enforcing contract to maximize environmental and economic benefits of centralized scenario. In addition, it provides a reference for the government to adopt both the carbon cap policy and the environmental tax policy.

The purpose of this paper is to extend game analysis to explore decision-making mechanisms for promoting a specific type of products, low energy consumption for individual one while the total energy consumption is huge due to the high quantity of sales, that is, low for individual and high for total (LIHT) in terms of energy consumption.

Game models are developed to compare decisions of optimal prices for newly developed and environmentally friendly (NDEF) and regular products as well as associated sales quantity, profits, carbon emissions under different governmental policies, along with a case of low energy-intensive broadband terminal products in the Chinese telecommunication industry under the carbon tax and subsidy policies.

For both NDEF and regular products, optimal prices decrease under the subsidy policy while both increase under the tax policy. Manufacturers’ decision of optimal prices is highly relevant with unit carbon tax/subsidy and the consumers’ preference. Both the tax and subsidy policies can improve consumption of NDEF products while the subsidy policy can be more effective at the current initial stage.

This paper provides decision support for manufacturers to promote sustainable consumption of LIHT products. Research ideas on models development and solutions for optimal prices can be applied to other LIHT products.

The results provide insights for governments on how to effectively evaluate and motivate sustainable consumption for LIHT products.

This paper first explores how to motivate sustainable consumption of LIHT products by developing models, examining effectiveness of potential governmental policies as well as associated carbon emissions.

The purpose of this paper is to expand the empirical literature on state tax and expenditure policies and entrepreneurial activity in several meaningful ways.

The authors update the panel data to include several more recent years and also consider other elements of state policy.

The most important takeaway is that even after dealing with some of the known shortcomings of dynamic panel analysis, we are still not able to find economically meaningful impacts of state tax and expenditure policies (generally defined) on entrepreneurial performance.

Earlier studies that have found statistical significance have generally been limited to extensive-margin impacts on such things as self-employment rates or counts of new or small firms. When the authors examine what policy makers actually care about – things like income and employment among entrepreneurial ventures – the authors do not find much in the way of useful policy impacts.

To be sure, the authors find entrepreneurial performance to be statistically significantly related to certain tax rates and expenditure amounts, but the magnitudes of our estimated results cast serious doubts on the usefulness of these particular policy levers for generating meaningful improvements in entrepreneurial success.

The authors’ primary contribution is to improve the empirical consideration of the time series properties of the data. The authors provide a battery of more general and robust analyses to more completely surround the question.