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The purpose of this paper is to examine the contradiction between sustainability and accounting practices, underpinned by reporting standards and question whether financial statements prepared in this way represent a true and fair view? The paper highlights the disregard for externalities as a fundamental obstacle to sustainable reporting and proposes taxation designs to recognise the costs associated with externalities as the basis for equitable reporting, pricing and sustainable business practices.

The approach taken uses Smith’s (1776) tenets of a good tax, to consider characteristics of taxation that may be harnessed for financial reporting, valuation, economic substance and legal form.

The findings reveal a case for further examination of the efficacy of taxation, alongside a full-cost accounting approach, to benefit sustainable reporting.

The implications of the research are a possible whole reappraisal of costs and prices to recognise the sustainability dimension and place it at the heart of the corporate agenda. The limitations arise from contestable valuation of sustainable matters, arising from a lack of an agreed theoretical framework.

The paper proposes a realignment of costs and prices to correct market imperfection through the innovative application of taxation, but without a fundamental reappraisal of the economic status quo upon which Western-style capitalism is underpinned.

The primary purpose of this article is to look at the manner in which the tax management aspects of a company's performance are presented in the financial statements.

Suggests that the current property recession means that advisers are now in the possibly unfamiliar position of dealing with the taxation consequences of realised and unrealised losses on investment properties. Highlights some relevant taxation points arising, and describes two specific strategies which may be available. Concludes that one of these strategies takes advantage of current depressed values to create a loss for capital gains purposes; the other suggests a way of achieving relief against income profits for capital losses.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the following research questions: Is the Portuguese corporate income tax (CIT) losing its internal consistency by extending the autonomous taxation of expenses (ATE)? Are receipts derived from autonomous taxes so relevant that what began as an exception is gradually becoming a permanent feature of the income tax? Given the constitutional principle that corporate taxation should be fundamentally based on income, is the taxation of expenses unconstitutional? Is Portugal an international outlier, in applying this type of taxation to corporate expenses?

The methodology used in the paper is a blend of legal research method and case study analysis. The interpretation of legal texts and the ratio legis discussion (hermeneutical side), the evaluation of advantages and disadvantages of autonomous taxes (argumentative approach) and the use of aggregate data to gauge an impression of autonomous taxes’ impact on global tax receipts (empirical side) will, jointly, be used to analyse the topic. Autonomous taxation is a case study on how a (albeit distortive) solution is being applied in an European Union (EU) country to significantly enhance corporate-related tax revenue.

The authors conclude that autonomous taxation is a relevant source of revenue and its elimination is not foreseeable, at least in the medium term. Moreover, the extension of the tax base is gradually transforming CIT in a kind of dual tax, by charging profits and some expenses. The Constitutional Court, stressing the equity principle, has not ruled autonomous taxation unconstitutional, invoking usefulness against tax evasion. Finally, with the exception of some Portuguese-speaking countries, no other comparable international experience is observed.

The autonomous taxes (ATE) and its progressive enlargement imply, on the one hand, that the CIT has been slowly, but inexorably, losing its sole purpose of taxing profits, and imposing a tax penalty on an increasing set of accounting expenses. On the other hand, the growing number of expenses subjected to taxation leads some authors to ponder if the Portuguese tax regime is losing attractiveness. By increasing ATE’s scope, the effective rate tends to move upwards, countering reductions in the statutory rate. Finally, tax law will increasingly influence managers’ daily decisions, given the set of expenses targeted by autonomous taxes.

Taking into account the aim of this study, the discussion of a Portuguese particular feature of corporate taxation can highlight useful policy points to a broader audience. Many Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries face a dire situation in public finances. Therefore, given the pressure to increase tax receipts, the ATE can be a case study on how a (albeit distortive) solution is being applied in an EU country to significantly enhance corporate-related tax revenue.

This study aims to analyze the influence of taxes and corporate governance on the dividend policy of Brazilian companies.

The authors identify the changes of the tax legislation in Brazil in the period 1986-2011 and check their effect on corporate dividend policies for preferred and common shares. The authors use panel data Probit and Tobit estimation to verify the probability of companies to pay dividends under different tax regimes. The final sample comprises 672 companies, 1,159 traded stocks and 30,134 observations

The authors’ results suggest that changes in the tax legislation have a significant influence on dividend payments. Also, firms do not follow target payout ratios, but dividends are moderately dependent on past payments. Dividend payouts are affected by stock voting rights, privatization and dividend deductibility. Changes in regulation that reduce the agency problems among shareholders affect positively payout ratios.

For managers, maximizing shareholders’ value requires taking into account the consequences of the taxation when designing financial policies for the firm. For investors, stock portfolio selection should take into account payout behavior and how changes in dividend taxation affect stocks’ value. For policymakers, the effects of changes in the tax code on corporate behavior are of utmost importance to stimulate private investment and economic growth.

There are several tax law changes in Brazil within the period analyzed, creating a good opportunity to study the effect of taxation on dividend policy and its dynamics over time.

Many existing studies point to the political contentiousness of attempts by states in the 19th century to impose property taxes, which after mid-century comprised the main source of state revenues. Yet studies fail to establish a convincing connection between interest group political effectiveness and resulting favorable property tax legislation. This paper takes a closer look at one state that adopted property taxation in the mid-19th century and documents intense inter-occupational conflicts between miners and ranchers over creation and administration of the system of property taxes. These conflicts occurred for various institutional reasons, including differential costs of enforcing tax collection and the short-lived political ascendance of miners during, and in the years following, the Gold Rush. The empirical results strongly suggest short-term capture by miners of the state legislature, followed by loss of capture ability as gold declined in economic importance in the 1860s.

The purpose of this paper is to re‐visit the problems of taxation consequences of sinking fund in the UK and to look at what is believed to be the only rational reason for using the dual rate adjusted for tax method variant.

The structure of this paper is: valuing a freehold and a leasehold interest by the single rate gross and net of tax approaches to show the logic that works with freehold valuation interest may not work with leasehold valuation; exploring the tax impacts on sinking fund; resolving the taxation issue of sinking fund; demonstrating the solution to the “double sinking fund problem” by the Greaves method and the single rate net of tax approach; and exploring the future of the dual rate theory.

The paper confirms that the traditional method is not satisfactory, even after the modifications made by the various methods mentioned above. The single rate net of tax approach is proved to meet all expectations and can be regarded as a more rational approach to the dual rate method.

Valuers of the “UK School” might consider that not only should dual rate valuation be regarded as defunct, but also that the more appropriate approach might be to move to a net of taxation approach.

This paper is the original work of the authors.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the tax aggressiveness among family firms considering their different levels of family involvement. Based on the family influence on power, experience, and culture approach proposed by Astrachan et al. (2002), this study examines to what extent the heterogeneity among family firms generates distinctive (and unique resource) combinations of family involvement that explain different levels of tax aggressiveness.

A sample of 282 small and medium-sized family enterprises and a structural equation modeling approach have been used to study simultaneously the effects of family influence through the power, experience, and culture dimensions of tax aggressiveness in family firms.

The family influences the business’ tax aggressiveness in different ways. As such, the greater the family experience, by the incorporation of second and subsequent generations, the greater the tax aggressiveness; in contrast, greater family power in terms of firm ownership and management negatively affects tax aggressiveness. Additionally, greater alignment of the family and business culture does not exert a significant effect on tax behaviors of family firms.

Tax aggressiveness is a complex activity that should be managed from a global point of view in family firms. Managers should compensate for the negative influence of family governance on tax aggressiveness with the positive effect of the family generations in order to obtain proper and balanced tax management that contributes to the sustainability of family firms.

This study contributes to the understanding of tax behavior heterogeneities among family firms by going further than most research (usually based mainly on comparative ownership aspects between large, publicly quoted family and non-family firms), considering some other more representative factors of family small and medium-sized enterprises, where the influence of characteristics of family management, family generation, and family values can be the main determinants of the firm taxation policies.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the introduction of three specific fiscal flexible mechanisms such as VAT surcharges/discounts, surcharges on import/manufacture of risk substances and maturity land tax to implement a new environmental fiscal reform that aims to reduce pollutions and emissions and avoid a regressive impact on low-income households using a feedback system.

The idea behind this article is to explore alternative environmental taxation system that aims to foster the transition to social-ecological sustainability without affect negatively poor and low-income households. It looks at the potential of environmental fiscal reform in terms of environmental benefits and present in the first section, evidence of some economic regressive impact caused by environmental fiscal reform in European Union from previous empirical studies. The article then introduces of a feedback mechanism to create a repayment system, such as rebate or cash transfer to compensate the regressive effect of the levy being added to the consumer price affecting low-income households in a very short period and push consumers to buy alternative eco-friendly products and services and to stimulate the market to offer them.

Lowering VAT rate for green products and services has the potential to increase demand for sustainable products and services and stimulate green jobs. Surcharges on import and manufacture of risk substances play a significant role to discourage the import of hazardous and pollutant substances by putting price on them and push the industrial sector towards a medium and long-term transition. Lowering taxes rates for buildings in inner cities encourage improvements and renovations, while raising tax on peri-urban areas discourage land speculation in areas with higher grade of biodiversity. This fiscal mechanism indirectly will reduce private and public transport emissions caused by urban sprawling and travel costs, reduce public infrastructure costs for connecting suburban area to the inner city and reduce the loss of urban-edge farmland area that are vital for smart urban growth.

The previous studies on the economic impact of the on environmental fiscal reform analysis, have focused on environmental aspects, economic growth and employment, but little on the regressive impact in short and medium terms on least wealthy sections of society. The proposed feedback mechanism aims to reduce distortion and inequalities caused by surcharges on existing taxation to low-income using monetary repayment measures, especially for products and services with elastic demand and no substitutes.