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We investigate the reasons why income inequality is so high in Spain in the EU context. We first show that the differential in inequality with Germany and other countries is driven by inequality among households who participate in the labor market. Then, we conduct an analysis of different household income aggregates. We also decompose the inter-country gap in inequality into characteristics and coefficients effects using regressions of the Recentered Influence Function for the Gini index. Our results show that the higher inequality observed in Spain is largely associated with lower employment rates, higher incidence of self-employment, lower attained education, as well as the recent increase in the immigration of economically active households. However, the prevalence of extended families in Spain contributes to reducing inequality by diversifying income sources, with retirement pensions playing an important role. Finally, by comparing the situations in 2008 and 2012, we separate the direct effects of the Great Recession on employment and unemployment benefits, from other more permanent factors (such as the weak redistributive effect of taxes and family or housing allowances, or the roles of education and the extended family).

Inequality is an essential factor for the alleviation of poverty. In Cameroon, most of the households derive their livelihoods from non-wage income and a better understanding of how different variables affect income inequality is a way to reduce those inequalities and improve social welfare. Studies carried out so far barely make out the determinants among non-wage earners. This study sets out to identify these determinants, using the regression-based decomposition technique and data obtained from the 2005 Employment and Informal Sector Survey (EISS) undertaken by the National Statistic Institute (INS) in Cameroon. Results show that the total inequality of an hourly active income ensues from the ratio of age/experience and unobserved individual heterogeneity among non-wage earners.

Although tax relief on pensions is a controversial area of government expenditure, this is the first study of the tax effects for a real-world defined benefit pension scheme. First, we estimate the tax and national insurance contribution (NIC) effects of the scheme's change from final salary to career average revalued earnings (CARE) in 2011 on the gross and net wealth of the sponsor, government, and 16 age cohorts of members, deferred pensioners, and pensioners. Second, we measure the size of the twelve income tax and NIC payments and reliefs for new members and the sponsor, before and after the rule changes. We find the total subsidy split is roughly 40% income tax subsidy and 60% NIC subsidy. If lower tax rates in retirement and the risk premium effect of the exempt-exempt-taxed (EET) system are not viewed as a tax subsidy, the tax subsidy to members largely disappears. Any remaining subsidy drops, as a proportion of pension benefits, for high earners, as does that for NICs.

US taxing authorities allow property investment to be separated into components. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how the classification of property affects the amount and timing of depreciation. Increased and accelerated depreciation increases after-tax cash flows and investor returns.

This paper explains traditional methods to analyze real estate investments and introduces modified methods that include the effect of taxes to improve the estimate of the potential return to the investor. Commonly used property classification methods are evaluated and projections are used to demonstrate the impact on investor returns.

Modified methods may improve return estimates and appropriately classifying property improves investor returns.

After-tax cash flows should be used to analyze potential real estate investments and properties should be accurately classified to maximize returns.

This paper demonstrates how to analyze real estate investments and maximize returns.

The dual process of thinking between conscious processes and unconscious processes generate a different decision. Thinking consciously produces rational decisions. However, a person’s cognitive limitation makes him or her simplify complex scenarios and think implicitly result in making decision in heuristics or rules of thumbs. This paper aims to evaluate patterns of decision-making relationships and dual motives for home purchasing by first home buyers and family life cycle in Indonesia.

Collecting data was done by distributing questionnaires to home buyers within three years (2013-2016). Further data were processed using ANOVA based on group of dual motives, time for buyer and family life cycle.

The results show that buyers have consumption motives in buying a residence and they behave rational, while investors prefer to buy an apartment and tend to behave heuristics. Dual motives of time for buyers are not significant to decision model. Family life cycle is significant to decision model based on dual motives.

This is an unpublished dissertation study to qualify for graduation.

The purpose of this paper is to explain the proposed Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) regulations released on February 8, 2012 by the US Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

The paper provides an overview of the changes to prior FATCA guidance in the proposed regulations, including the definition of a foreign financial institution (FFI), due diligence requirements to identify US accounts, procedures to verify compliance, phase‐in information required to be reported, verification procedures, definitions of FFIs that are “deemed” to meet the FATCA requirements, definition of “passthru” payments, explanation of exemptions from withholding related to certain “grandfathered obligations,” temporary relief for FFIs with non‐compliant affiliates, and a proposed intergovernmental approach to FATCA implementation through domestic reporting and reciprocal automatic exchange of information.

The paper reveals that the FATCA grew out of Congressional concern that US taxpayers were evading taxes by failing to report US‐source income on assets held abroad. The FATCA legislation left many of the details on implementation to the US Treasury and IRS. The intergovernmental framework is not a done deal. The proposed reciprocal, automatic exchange of information would be a sea change from existing US information reporting practices and is sure to be controversial.

The paper provides expert guidance from experienced financial institutions lawyers.

Small businesses play a vital role in job creation and economic growth, and previous studies have noted that higher state tax rates may reduce entrepreneurial activity, growth, and hiring. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

In this paper, the authors use a 1989-2005 panel of state-level data to explore the effects of state income tax reciprocity agreements on several measures of small business activity. Since a reciprocity agreement exempts non-resident income from a state's personal income tax base, it has the potential to reduce barriers to entrepreneurial activity and lower tax compliance costs.

The results indicate that reciprocity agreements appear to have reduced the tax-rate sensitivity of entrepreneurial activity, which may lead to more small business and entrepreneurial activity in states with more active agreements, other factors constant. This suggests that personal income tax reciprocity agreements may be a credible policy tool to expand small business activity.

In this study, the paper sets out to determine if small business and entrepreneurial activity is greater in states that have reciprocity agreements and if such activity is dependent on the number of active agreements in place. Given recent nationwide efforts to ease compliance costs for business through other initiatives such as the Telecommuter Tax Fairness Act and the Streamlined Sales Tax Agreement, this study is the first to quantify how decreasing tax compliance and eliminating barriers to labor mobility affects small business activity. The results therefore have the potential to help shape debates in many states today.

This paper aims to examine the association between income smoothing and the cost of debt in two different countries, namely, the UK and Nigeria.

The authors used a sample from listed firms in the UK and Nigeria during 2000–2019. The study hypotheses are examined by implementing quantitative methods, including panel regression analysis, cross-sectional regression analysis and parametric independent samples t-test.

The results reveal that Nigerian companies have a substantially higher cost of debt and are more active in using income-smoothing practices. However, the relationship between income smoothing and the cost of debt is not found to be statistically significant in both countries. Besides, the results of this study show that financial leverage, profitability, company size and asset turnover are significantly associated with the cost of debt.

The study contributes to the existing literature by providing new insights concerning the contrast between developed and developing countries in financial and reporting issues.

This chapter provides an assessment of the effects of the Great Recession on the Italian labour market. Two-thirds of the decrease in employment taking place during the 2008:4 to 2009:4 period were due to the fall in job-finding probabilities, while transitions out of employment significantly increased only for employees with flexible contracts. According to micro-level multiple stochastic imputations coherent with the evolution of the employment rate, income losses related to job terminations will be partially offset by the highly fragmented income support safety nets available. A stress test shows that income stabilization offered is pro-cyclical, while labour income inequality is driven by changes in employment: inequality among the employed seems to be rather insensitive to the composition of employment.