从个体商业缴税的演变看转型期的政策机制

在个体户诞生之初,地方政府为了更好地征税,针对个体商业创造了代扣代缴营业税的政策,并获得中央政府的认可与推行。但在实行了十年之后,却不得不停止这种政策。通过对个体商业代扣代缴营业税的演变过程的分析表明,在转型期的中国存在着一种重要的政策机制:地方政府与私人的互动。     

NEW DIRECTIONS FOR URBAN ECONOMIC MODELS OF LAND USE CHANGE: INCORPORATING SPATIAL DYNAMICS AND HETEROGENEITY*

ABSTRACT We review the usefulness of urban spatial economic models of land use change for the study and policy analysis of spatial land use–environment interactions. We find that meaningful progress has been made in econometric and monocentric models extended to account for multiple sources of spatial heterogeneity and in the development of general equilibrium models with spatial dynamics. Despite these advances, more work is needed in developing models with greater realism. Most agent‐based computational models of urban land use change currently lack economic fundamentals, but provide a flexible means of linking microlevel behavior and interactions with macrolevel land use dynamics. In combination with empirical methods to identify parameters, this framework provides a promising approach to modeling spatial land use dynamics and policy effects.     

Local Government Portfolios and Regional Growth: Some Combined Dynamic CGE/Optimal Control Results

A theoretical policy model is presented that combines regional dynamic CGE modeling and optimal control to explore the role of local government taxation and expenditure in enhancing regional growth. It contributes to the regional CGE literature by explicitly solving for an optimal policy and augments earlier regional optimal control models by adding endogenous optimization of producer and consumer agents in response to endogenously determined prices. Results of three policy regimes are analyzed in terms of gains in the objective function, impacts on income inequality, and sensitivity to model parameterization.     

Using Excise Taxes to Finance State Government: Do Neighboring State Taxation Policy and Cross‐Border Markets Matter?

In this paper the excise tax policy of U.S. state governments is analyzed with special attention to how this policy is influenced by the level of excise taxation in neighboring states, "border-tax effects," and the relative size of the market located across state boundaries. Using a panel data set, state policies towards the taxation of cigarettes, all alcoholic beverages, beer, distilled liquor, motor fuel, and insurance are investigated within the context of a vote-maximizing model of collective decision making. The role of the industry in that state whose goods and services are singled out for special taxation is also examined.     

Limits to Radical Intervention: Agricultural Taxation in West Bengal

Agricultural taxation policy formulation under the Left Front government in West Bengal indicates landed interests are now powerful enough to resist enhanced taxation. As the most radical government in India abandoned proposed agricultural tax increases in the face of landowner opposition, and felt obliged to lower land taxes instead, India is not likely to increase land revenue for economic development. This effective landowner veto power over taxation policy indicates significant agrarian reform is not forthcoming in India, and the trend is towards greater subsidies for surplus-producing farmers. The research was conducted through interviews with the policy formulators in West Bengal.     

THE MARKET VALUE OF ENVIRONMENTAL IMPROVEMENTS IN ALTERNATIVE FISCAL REGIMES*

ABSTRACT Land price differentials have long been used as a proxy for the value of environmental improvements in cost/benefit analysis. Both the empirical and theoretical literatures have largely ignored two important facts, however: Taxes financing local improvements are often distortionary, and amenities which influence property values in turn impact the fiscal budget, and hence the tax rate and final economic burden. Put another way, the economic cost of an improvement is endogenous to both the amenity level and the revenue structure. Extending the story in this direction for a system of open or closed spatial cities, the paper finds land rent measures to be a biased measure of the willingness to pay for amenities financed by either head taxes (benefit taxes), property taxes (excise taxes), or highway tolls (user fees). These results are used to correct the conventional specification of empirical property value regression models, which traditionally account for neither tax revenue effects nor the excess burden of distortionary taxation.     

Specialization and social inequality in Bronze Age SE Arabia: analyzing the development of production strategies and economic networks using agent-based modeling

This paper investigates the role of specialized production strategies in the development of socio-economic inequalities in Bronze Age south-eastern (SE) Arabia, and particularly, the ways in which a localized, internal exchange economy may have produced stress and instability in the SE Arabian socio-economic system. While archaeological research has established that the communities of SE Arabia participated in a widespread Bronze Age exchange system that included areas of the ancient Near East, South Asia, and Central Asia, it is unclear to what degree this interaction fostered the broad-scale socio-economic changes seen in the Early Bronze Age of SE Arabia. Here we present the results of an agent-based model that suggest the nature of the internal exchange economy in SE Arabia itself may have precipitated the social conditions necessary for change by allowing individuals to profit disproportionately. We thus emphasize the importance of local production strategies in generating socio-economic change, in addition to the well-established economic and cultural contacts with the wider Bronze Age world.     

Poles apart: comparative resource sector governance in Australia and Norway

This article contrasts the resource policy performance of Norway and Australia. Australia has not established a long-term sovereign wealth fund or a medium-term stabilisation fund to save windfall revenue during boom times and its resource sector is characterised by relatively modest rates of taxation. In contrast, Norway has established the largest sovereign wealth fund in the world and imposed very high rates of taxation shortly after discovering its resource wealth. This article argues that Norway's consensual approach to industry development and regulation are the primary causes of its success in capitalising on its resource wealth. The difference between the two countries’ approaches is exacerbated by Australia's federal system, which has created less effective governance of resource industries.     

论我国生态税制的构建

生态税收是政府通过对破坏生态环境的行为(生产行为和消费行为)征收相应数量的税收,用于环境保护的投资或对保护环境的行为的税收支出,以保持生态平衡的一种税收体系。中国日趋严峻的生态环境、生态税制的缺位、可持续发展战略的实现以及提高公民环保意识迫切要求构建我国的生态税收体系。因此,制定完备的《生态税法》;改革旧税种,创立新税种完善税收体系;奖惩并重、税收征收与支出并举,就成为构建我国生态税制的基本思路。     

The Fiscal-Electoral Nexus in Australia, 1976-94

This article re-evaluates existing political business cycle theory in the specific context of the political economy of Australian fiscal policy since the mid-1970s. Whereas 'traditional' political business cycle models, formulated within a Keynesian framework, assume a high level of state autonomy over fiscal policy, this article argues that an environment of fiscal restraint has been imposed on Australian federal governments over the study period. Given the historical dynamics of Australian economic policy which inform this study, a hypothesis is developed which reflects the policy optimisation dilemma which has confronted Australian federal governments when formulating fiscal priorities in a pre-election context. On one hand, there are pre-poll demands for expansionary fiscal settings from the electorate; on the other, there are demands from financial markets and domestic neoliberal interests for fiscal restraint. Reflecting the fact that identifiable costs are associated with implementing expansionary fiscal policy settings, it is hypothesised that such an approach will be adopted only in times of greatest political need, when an incumbent government is facing a popularity deficit in a pre-election context. While the study confirms that the fiscal-electoral effect is relatively weak, electoral demands do still influence the fiscal priorities of Australian federal governments. This is particularly so with the case of personal taxation relief, a policy approach that appears to be more acceptable to financial markets, key neoliberal interests and some segments of the electorate.     

In pursuit of independence: the political economy of Catalonia's secessionist movement

This article examines the fiscal dimensions of recent support for Catalan secession. Since the region is a cultural community distinct from the rest of Spain, much research has spotlighted national identity features in the calculus of Catalan political aspirations. This study supplements this work by contextualising support for Catalan independence in terms of the state's fiscal arrangements with the use of public opinion survey data. Even after controlling for self‐reported cultural identity and other relevant factors, it argues that support for independence is a function of grievances rooted in the desire for Catalonia to assume responsibility for taxation and spending policy. Meanwhile, it validates some observations about Catalonia's separatist movement, while bringing others into question, and offers support for the theoretical framework linking political economy to secessionism. The results suggest that Spain might be able to stave off Catalonia's separatist bid through some form of political and taxation policy reconfiguration, with the caveats that cultural identity factors and the existence of other separatist movements across the country complicate this strategy.     

Rescaling citizenship: gendering Canadian immigration policy

Tracing the impact of public consultation on policy development is vital to theories of the state. Without investigating how civic participation is transformed into policy outcomes researchers cannot adequately account for the interaction of state and civil society. In particular researchers need to refine their explanations of policy development by highlighting how identity and scale can alter both policy application and outcome. I develop this approach by tracing how the civic participation of immigrant women in Canada advanced the rights of women in the development of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, which came into law in June 2002. By tracing the consultation process between Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) and Sahara and NAC, two women’s advocacy groups, I reveal how public involvement and concern with gender equity transmitted into policy change. The outcomes of this interaction do, however, present some contradictions. In particular policy changes attempt to limit one source of inequality, but in the process enforce greater state control of mobility. Despite this paradox, I conclude that this political involvement represents a partial victory for immigrant women since it succeeded in promoting concerns with gender within the ‘formal’ arena of national policy development.     

我国地方税制的历史沿革与发展探析

地方税制是国家税收制度的组成部分 ,国家进行税制调整常引起地方税制的变化 ,税制调整又与财政体制的变化相关联。由于地方税制是以中央与地方分财权为前提 ,因此确立什么样的中央与地方的财政分配关系直接决定着地方税制是否存在 ,以及地方税制的存在形式。财政体制发生变化 ,地方税制必然随之变化 ,税制调整和财政体制调整往往是交织在一起的。文章在回顾与总结我国税收制度发展和改革历程的基础上 ,探讨了地方税制产生和发展以及运行的一般规律 ,并对进一步完善地方税体系 ,使地方税收活动规范化、民主化、科学化提出了设想     

社会主义市场经济中的中国税制改革

1992年,具有伟大历史意义的中国共产党第十二次全国代表大会确定了中国经济体制改革的目标是建立社会主义市场经济体制。为此,中国于1994年实施了新中国成立以来规模最大、范围最广、内容最深刻的一次税制改革。经过这次税制改革和9年来的逐步完善,中国已经初步建立了适应社会主义市场经济体制需要的税收制度,对于保证财政收入、加强宏观调控、深化改革、扩大开放、促进经济与社会的发展起到了重要的作用。回顾1992年以来中国税制改革、发展的情况,目的在于真实地反映11年来中国税制发展的历程和取得的成就,总结经验,为今后中国税制的进一步改革与发展提供借鉴。     

Conceptualizing the Regional Roles of Universities,Implications and Contradictions

The impact of universities on the economic wellbeing and innovative potential of regions has been the object of intense scholarly and policy interest in the last years. Despite this interest, a clear picture is missing in relation to the roles universities are seen to play, the benefits of university activities and the mechanisms through which they occur. This paper proposes a review and a critique of current views on the role of universities and their associated policy implications. To achieve this, the paper identifies five “models” for universities as they are reflected in the literature, each advocating different set of roles of universities, different spatial aspects of interactions, as well as different mechanisms for university engagement. National and regional innovation and research policies tend to explicitly or implicitly reflect one or a combination of several of these models, giving rise to potential contradictions or conflicts of policy rationales and objectives.     

The Odd Compartmentalization: Public Opinion,Aggregate Data,and Policy Analysis*

This article examines some of the assumptions that underlie the use of aggregate data for policy analysis, In particular, it explores the consequences of the assumption of antagonistic attitudes between “haves” and “have nots” on social welfare policies. Use of public opinion data demonstrates the low salience of regressiveness of taxation and thereby calls into question the validity of a common indice in aggregate analysis. The use of this and related examples is intended to demonstrate the value of supplementing aggregate data analysis of public policy with direct evidence about public attitudes toward those policies.     

Leontief's “Environmental Repercussions and the Economic Structure…” Revisited: A General Equilibrium Formulation

A 1972 paper by Leontief on an input-output model with pollution removal activity as an explicit sector is reformulated as a computable general equilibrium model. The advantage of this reformulation is that substitution and rational behavior by producers and consumers can be modeled and prices are rendered endogenous. The two approaches are contrasted regarding the consequences of policy changes about taxation and technological improvements.     

THE EFFECTS OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT AMALGAMATION ON PUBLIC SPENDING,TAXATION, AND SERVICE LEVELS: EVIDENCE FROM 15 YEARS OF MUNICIPAL CONSOLIDATION

We study how municipal amalgamation affects local government spending, taxation, and service provision in the Netherlands. Employing different models, different control groups, and a number of robustness tests, we find no significant effect on aggregate spending or taxation, although spending on administration is reduced. We explore whether this finding might hide amalgamation effects working in opposite directions for different types of municipalities (e.g., small versus large, or homogeneous versus heterogeneous), cancelling each other out. This does not seem to be the case. We also investigate whether amalgamation leads to better public services instead of lower spending, but find no evidence.     

Credibility in Policy Expertise: The Function of Boundaries Between Research and Policy

As science becomes an increasingly crucial resource for addressing complex challenges in society, extensive demands are placed upon the researchers who produce it. Creating valuable expert knowledge that intervenes in policy or practice requires knowledge brokers to facilitate interactions at the boundary between research and policy. Yet, existing research lacks a compelling account of the ways in which brokerage is performed to gain credibility. Drawing on mixed‐method analysis of 12 policy research settings, I outline a novel set of strategies for attaining symbolic power, whereby policy experts position themselves and others via conceptual distances drawn between the “world of ideas” and the “world of policy and practice.” Disciplinary distance works to situate research as either disciplinary or undisciplinary, epistemic distance creates a boundary between complex specialist research and direct digestible outputs, temporal distance represents the separation of slow rigorous research and agile responsive analysis, and economic distance situates research as either pure and intrinsic or marketable and fundable. I develop a theoretical account that unpacks the boundaries between research communities and shows how these boundaries permit policy research actors to achieve various strategic aims.     

Thinking about social mutualism in transhumant farming in Croatia

A close focus on the observed interaction type is essential to academic biological writing on mutualism and other symbiotic interactions. Through their observations, scholars note slight shifts in the forms these interactions take, meaning that they are not fixed but can shift according to changes – e.g. in the ecological context. When thinking about human/animal dairy interactions, it is tempting to think about them as purely parasitic. Humans take milk from animals for their own needs and harm the animals. However, borrowing biological approaches that closely focus on the interactions between actors, this article suggests that it is possible to see mutualistic interactions at specific points within dairy relations. In transhumant farming relations in Croatia, we need to account for evidence of mutualism.