The volume discusses the recent developments in selected countries of the Middle East and North Africa. Theoretical chapter presents the internal and external factors influencing the development and democratization processes. Based on these factors the authors analyze in depth the recent development in Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Palestine, Syria, Turkey and Yemen. The authors demonstrate that the recent development in these countries varied significantly, mostly due to the difference of the historical, political, economic, security or religious conditions in the relevant countries.

This authoritative and readable survey is a comprehensive historical overview of federal taxation and fiscal policy in the United States, extending from the era of the American Revolution to the present day. Brownlee relates the principal stages of federal taxation to the crises that led to their adoption, including but not limited to: the formation of the republic, the Civil War, World War I and II, and the challenges to government that took hold during the 1980s. In this third edition, Brownlee adds four new chapters covering the colonial era, the American Revolution, the Civil War, the 1920s, and the post-1945 era including the tax policies of the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations. It features expanded discussion of government expenditures, deficits and debt, public resources, counter-cyclical fiscal policy, and state and local taxation. Its interdisciplinary interpretation makes it perfect for scholars, graduate students and advanced undergraduate students.

This volume of essays explores the history of the US tax mission to Japan during the occupation following World War II. Under General MacArthur, economist Carl S. Shoup led the mission with the charge of framing a tax system for Japan designed to strengthen democracy and accelerate economic recovery. The volume examines the sources, conduct and effects of the mission and situates the mission within the history of international financial and fiscal reform. The book begins by establishing the context of progressive social investigations of taxation, including Shoup's earlier tax missions to France and Cuba. It then goes on to explore the Japanese background to the Shoup mission and the process by which American and Japanese tax experts shaped their recommendations. The book then assesses and explains the mission's accomplishments in the context of the political economies of the United States and Japan. It concludes by analyzing the global implications of the mission, which became iconic among international tax reformers.

Managerial decisions are considerably influenced by taxes: e.g. the choice of location, buying or leasing decisions, or the proper mix of debt and equity in the company's capital structure increasingly demand qualified employees in an economic environment that is becoming more and more complex. Due to the worldwide economic integration and constant changes in tax legislation, companies are faced with new challenges - and the need for information and advice is growing accordingly. This book's goal is to identify and quantify possible tax effects on companies' investment strategies and financing policies. It does not focus on details of tax law, but instead seeks to address students and practitioners focusing on corporate finance, accounting, investment banking and strategy consulting.

This book explores the politics of fiscal authority, focusing on the centralization of taxation in Latin America during the twentieth century. The book studies this issue in great detail for the case of Mexico. The political (and fiscal) fragmentation associated with civil war at the beginning of the century was eventually transformed into a highly centralized regime. The analysis shows that fiscal centralization can best be studied as the consequence of a bargain struck between self-interested regional and national politicians. Fiscal centralization was more extreme in Mexico than in most other places in the world, but the challenges and problems tackled by Mexican politicians were not unique. The book thus analyzes fiscal centralization and the origins of intergovernmental financial transfers in the other Latin American federal regimes, Argentina, Brazil, and Venezuela. The analysis sheds light on the factors that explain the consolidation of tax authority in developing countries.

This book brings together the work of researchers in Eastern and Western Europe, who analyze competitiveness, social exclusion and sustainability from a range of perspectives. It examines the key challenges faced by the EU in its efforts to establish a socially inclusive and greener path to growth and develops policy recommendations to simultaneously achieve the EU 2020 agenda’s long-term goals and address the current economic crisis in Europe.

This volume provides a comprehensive analysis of why taxpayers behave the way they do. It reveals the motivations for why some taxpayers comply with the law while others choose not to comply. Given the current global financial climate there is a need for governments worldwide to increase their revenue collections via improving taxpayer compliance. Research into what shapes and influences taxpayer behavior is critical in that any marginal improvement in understanding and dealing with this behavior can potentially have a dramatic impact upon government revenue. Based on Australian data derived from the data bases of the Australian Taxation Office as an example, this book presents findings that provide lessons for tax systems around the world. Regardless of the type of tax system in place, taxpayers of all nationalities are concerned about how their tax authorities deal with non-compliance and in particular how the tax authorities go about encouraging compliance and ensuring a fair tax system for all. The book presents empirical evidence concerning taxpayer compliance behavior with particular attention being drawn to the moral values of taxpayers, the perceived fairness of the tax system and the deterrent measures undertaken by revenue authorities which influence that behavior. Other issues examined include the degree to which tax penalties operate as an effective deterrent to curbing behavior and how taxpayers' level of general tax knowledge and awareness also impacts upon their actions.

Despite the globalization of accounting standards occurring through convergence to International Financial Reporting Standards, local accounting systems are deeply intertwined with each country's unique institutions such as its corporate system, disclosure practices and enforcement mechanisms. First, this book empirically analyzes the effects of globalization and localization of accounting rules on corporate behavior such as earnings management, signaling, investment behavior and dividend payout policy. Second, the book unravels the economic consequences of disclosure based on the concept of self-disciplining enforcement such as management forecasts, environmental disclosures and risk disclosures by Japanese firms. This volume is a step forward in understanding the link between accounting and corporate behavior based on a new institutional accounting approach.

This study, first published in 1994, examines an important issue, the repeal of the thirty percent withholding tax imposed by the US on interest payments to non-resident alien individuals and foreign corporations, that is emblematic of the US quest for foreign capital in the 1980s. It presents an interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary analytical approach to show how important the access to foreign capital had become on the eve of the US turning into a debtor nation.

Does oil make countries autocratic? Can foreign aid make countries democratic? Does taxation lead to representation? In this book, Kevin M. Morrison develops a novel argument about how government revenues of all kinds affect political regimes and their leaders. Contrary to conventional wisdom, Morrison illustrates that taxation leads to instability, not representation. With this insight, he extends his award-winning work on nontax revenues to encompass foreign aid, oil revenue, and intergovernmental grants and shows that they lead to decreased taxation, increased government spending, and increased political stability. Looking at the stability of democracies and dictatorships as well as leadership transitions within those regimes, Morrison incorporates cross-national statistical methods, formal modeling, a quasi-experiment, and case studies of Brazil, Kenya, and Mexico to build his case. This book upends many common hypotheses and policy recommendations, providing the most comprehensive treatment of revenue and political stability to date.

At the turn of the twentieth century, the US system of public finance underwent a dramatic transformation. The late nineteenth-century regime of indirect, hidden, partisan, and regressive taxes was eclipsed in the early twentieth century by a direct, transparent, professionally administered, and progressive tax system. In Making the American Fiscal State, Ajay K. Mehrotra uncovers the contested roots and paradoxical consequences of this fundamental shift in American tax law and policy. He argues that the move toward a regime of direct and graduated taxation marked the emergence of a new fiscal polity - a new form of statecraft that was guided not simply by the functional need for greater revenue but by broader social concerns about economic justice, civic identity, bureaucratic capacity, and public power. Between the end of Reconstruction and the onset of the Great Depression, the intellectual, legal, and administrative foundations of the modern fiscal state first took shape. This book explains how and why this new fiscal polity came to be.

The United States faces enormous challenges in the energy area. Climate change, biofuels policy, energy security, and environmental degradation are all intimately bound up with energy production and consumption. Historically, the federal government has relied on tax subsidies to effect energy policy. With mounting federal deficits, policymakers and advocates are increasingly calling for a rethinking of our energy tax policy. How can the federal tax code strengthen environmental policy and reduce security concerns in the area of energy? This book brings together leading tax scholars to answer this question. The authors tackle such difficult problems as climate change, efficient taxation of oil and gas, and optimal oil tax policy in a world with OPEC oil producers dominating world oil supply. This volume presents a number of innovative policy suggestions backed by sophisticated and cutting-edge research carried out by leading scholars in the area of energy taxation. Scholars and policymakers alike will appreciate the incisive analysis and discussion of critical issues that are part of the twenty-first-century energy challenge.

How does China maintain authoritarian rule while it is committed to market-oriented economic reforms? This book analyzes this puzzle by offering a systematic analysis of the central-local governmental relationship in rural China, focusing on rural taxation and political participation. Drawing on in-depth interviews with Chinese local officials and villagers, and combining them with game-theoretic analyses, it argues that the central government uses local governments as a target of blame for the problems that the central government has actually created. The most recent rural tax reforms, which began in 2000, were a conscious trade-off between fiscal crises and rural instability. For the central government, local fiscal crises and the lack of public goods in agricultural areas were less serious concerns than the heavy financial burdens imposed on farmers and the rural unrest that the predatory extractive behavior of local governments had generated in the 1990s, which threatened both economic reforms and authoritarian rule.

This book outlines China's current overseas investment promotion system, analyzing the general situation and the main problems arising during its development. Based on investigations of both the historical and present-day contexts of outbound investment, the book suggests improvements to overseas investment promotion to protect China's enterprises from various aspects of the system including legal, regulatory, fiscal, intellectual property rights and standardization, risk prevention, foreign trade and economic cooperation zones to promote overseas securities investment promotion and social services.

The English poll taxes of 1377, 1379, and 1381 taxed householders, wives, dependants, and servants individually. The tax records therefore provide information about people who are rarely, if ever, mentioned in other documents - frequently including details of occupations and relationships. The widely varying documents associated with the taxes are being published in three volumes, to make this massive resource accessible to social and economic historians, demographers, and genealogists. This first volume, which covers all three taxes for Bedfordshire to Leicestershire, includes extensive editorial descriptions of the documents, explanations of the collection and recording processes, and a discussion of the relevance and value of this exciting material. Full indexes of original and contemporary place names and a glossary of occupations will appear in the third volume.

The People's Republic of China's tax policies and international obligations are as multifaceted and dynamic as they are complex, developing closely with the nation's rise to the world's fastest-growing major economy. Today, after decades of reform and the entry into the World Trade Organization, China has developed regulatory systems that enable it to provide stable administration, including a tax structure. China's main tax reform can be attributed to the enactment of the Enterprise Income Tax Law, which came into effect on January 1, 2008. Chinese tax regulations include direct taxes, indirect taxes, other taxes, and custom duties and from a collection point of view, China's tax administration adopts a very devolved system, with revenue collected and shared between different levels of government in accordance with contracts between the different levels of the tax administration system. With respect to international treaties, China has established a network of bilateral tax treaties and regional free trade agreements. This publication describes in detail China's complex tax system and policies, as well as major bilateral treaties in which China has entered into using country-by-country analysis. Lorenzo Riccardi is Tax Advisor and Certified Public Accountant specialized in international taxation. He is based in Shanghai, where he focuses on business and tax law, assisting foreign investments in East Asia. He is an auditor and an advisor for several corporate groups and he is partner and Head of Tax of the consulting firm GWA, specializing in emerging markets.

The "Tax Translator" offers much needed advice and guidance on tax compliance for institutions of higher learning

College and university officials often are unaware of their institutions' tax obligations. Especially for institutions without designated tax compliance officers, the consequences of such ignorance can devastating. Based on its author's decades of experiences as a tax manager at three universities, this handbook was written for all university staff involved with tax compliance--from the account clerk in the Accounts Payable Department, up through vice presidents, controllers, treasurers and directors. Steve Hoffman explains the core principles and practices that inform current tax policy and develops a framework for building a system for effective tax compliance, reporting and filing. Satisfies the urgent demand for timely, authoritative advice and guidance on a area of increasing concern for colleges and universitiesSheds new light on the impact of current tax obligations for both four-year and community colleges, which are often left out of the discussionThe Federal Government has recently stepped up its enforcement of tax law compliance for colleges and universities

Tax systems have changed considerably in the past three decades. These fundamental changes have been the result of economic globalization, new political stances, and also of developments in public finance thought. The chapters in this volume offer a critical review of those changes from the perspectives of tax theory, policy and tax administration practice, and the political economy of taxation. The authors also consider what sort of reforms are worth undertaking in tax policy design, tax administration and enforcement, and the assignment of sub-national taxes. The authors in this volume are among the top scholars in the study of public finance. The development of tax systems in OECD countries is examined, as are various methods of taxation (direct versus indirect, corporate income tax, value added tax and others) employed throughout the world. The politics of public finance and the institutions used to administer it are also analyzed. Reflecting on the influence of the research itself, Richard Bird closes the book with a chapter exploring whether or not economic literature has focused on the issues and problems that really matter to policy makers and whether it has influenced the development of tax systems. Economists in academia, government, and business along with tax lawyers and policy makers will find this volume an invaluable resource. Contributors include: E. Albi, R. Bahl, R. Bird, R. Boadway, S. Cnossen, H. Cremer, J. Hasseldine, W. Hettich, M. Keen, P. Pestieau, A. Sandmo, V. Tanzi, S. Winer

Despite the enormous diversity and complexity of financial instruments, the current taxation of hybrid financial instruments and the remuneration derived therefrom are characterized by a neat division into dividend-generating equity and interest-generating debt as well as by a coexistence of source- and residence-based taxation. This book provides a comparative analysis of the classification of hybrid financial instruments in the national tax rules currently applied by Australia, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands as well as in the relevant tax treaties and EU Directives. Moreover, based on selected hybrid financial instruments, mismatches in these tax classifications, which lead to tax planning opportunities and risks and thus are in conflict with the single tax principle, are identified. To address these issues, the author provides reform options that are in line with the dichotomous debt-equity framework, as he/she suggests the coordination of either tax classifications or tax treatments.

Why have Americans severely limited the estate and gift tax - ostensibly targeted at only the very wealthy - but greatly expanded the subsidies to low-wage workers through the Earned Income Tax Credit, now the single largest poverty program in the country? Why do people hate the property tax so much, yet seemingly revolt against it only during periods of economic change? Why are some groups of taxpayers more obedient to the tax authorities than others, even when they face the same enforcement regime? These puzzling questions all revolve around perceptions of tax fairness. Is the public simply inconsistent? A sympathetic and unified explanation for these attitudes is based on understanding the everyday psychology of fairness and how it comes to be applied in taxation. This book demonstrates how a serious consideration of 'folk justice' can deepen our understanding of how tax systems actually function and how they can perhaps be reformed.