U-Pick – Are Agritourism Workers Exempt From the Wage and Hour Protections of the Fair Labor Standards Act?

Pursuant to the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA” or “the Act”), employer must pay workers at least the minimum wage and overtime pay for all hours worked in excess of forty hours in a standard workweek, unless the worker fits within one of the law’s exemptions. The FLSA contains a complete exemption for agricultural workers from the overtime pay provision and a partial exemption from the minimum wage provision. The exemptions from the minimum wage and overtime pay are not the only exemptions in the FLSA for agriculture, but they are the focus of this Article and are referred to herein as “FLSA’s agricultural exemptions.” Although the complete exemption has been modified in the years since the passage of the FLSA, farm workers still do not enjoy the full wage and hour protections of the FLSA

Attitudes Towards Vaccination Among Medical Students: A Two-Site Study

Introduction: Mandatory immunization for school age children in the 20th Century led to a substantial decline in infectious disease. All US states allow medical exemptions from immunizations with 49 permitting additional religious exemptions and 19 permitting additional philosophical exemptions. Vaccine exemptions have lead to an increase in the incidence of disease outbreaks. Healthcare providers play a critical role in educating parents about the benefits and risks of immunizations. This project compares student attitudes and knowledge regarding vaccination at medical schools in two distinct states: one with no additional exemptions (West Virginia) and one with both additional exemptions (Vermont).https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/comphp_gallery/1218/thumbnail.jp

Free Zone Incentives in MERCOSUR Countries and WTO Law

Published source: Gabriel Gari, 'Free Zone Incentives in MERCOSUR Countries and WTO Law' (2011) 6 Global Trade and Customs Journal, Issue 5, pp. 223–244 ID: GTCJ2011031This article examines the consistency of the incentives offered by free zone regimes in Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay with World Trade Organization (WTO) law. It suggests that some of the incentives offered to free zone users are inconsistent with the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures (ASCM) because they constitute a ‘subsidy’ within the meaning of the ASCM, subject de iure or de facto to export performance, most notably, exemptions of direct taxes, exemptions of custom duties on the import of capital goods, exemptions of payment of social welfare charges, unqualified exemptions on payment of indirect taxes, and the possibility to supply goods or services to free zone users at promotional rates. By contrast, this article suggests that there are no significant inconsistencies between free zone incentives and the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) but warns that the situation could change in the future if, as a result of multilateral negotiations, MERCOSUR countries opt for extending their GATS commitments to new sectors and modes of supply

Sprawling by the Lake: How IDA-Granted Property Tax Exemptions Undermine Older Parts of the Buffalo/Niagara Metro Area

An examination of the geographic distribution of property tax exemptions given to businesses in 2005 by the nine state-regulated Industrial Development Agencies (IDAs) in the Buffalo/Niagara metro area reveals they have subsidized job creation outside of the region’s oldest, most densely populated and most transit-accessible areas, despite the fact those areas are most in need of jobs and reinvestment. The exemptions’ sprawling, pro-suburban bias is especially evident in Erie County and far less problematic in Niagara

Bankruptcy exemptions, credit history, and the mortgage market.

We develop and test a model of mortgage underwriting, with particular reference to the role of credit bureau scores. In our model scores are used in a standardized fashion, which reflects the prevalence of automated underwriting in industry practice. We show that our model has implications for the debate on the effect of personal bankruptcy exemptions on secured lending. Recent literature (Berkowitz and Hynes (1999), Lin and White (2001)) has developed conflicting theories—and found conflicting results—seeking to explain how exemptions affect the mortgage market. ; By contrast, our model implies that when lenders use credit scores in a standardized manner, exemptions should be irrelevant to the mortgage underwriting decision. Merging data from a major credit bureau with the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) dataset, we confirm this prediction of our model. We also show that while ignoring borrower credit quality may make exemptions appear to be significant, once one controls for credit scores then exemptions have no effect on the likelihood that a mortgage application is approved. We confirm this empirically and argue that this may help explain some of the results of the previous literature.Bankruptcy ; Credit scoring systems ; Mortgage loans

Unsecured Debt, Consumer Bankruptcy, and Small Business

In this paper we develop a quantitative model of entrepreneurial activity (risk-taking) and consumer bankruptcy choices and use the model to study the effects of bankruptcy regulations on entrepreneurial activity, bankruptcy rate and welfare. We show that eliminating bankruptcy exemptions leads to a modest increase in the fraction of entrepreneurs, a large decrease in the overall bankruptcy rate and a significant welfare gain. In contrast, eliminating the whole consumer bankruptcy system leads to a large fall in the fraction of entrepreneurs and a substantial welfare loss. These two findings suggest that the consumer bankruptcy system is desirable but it must be well-designed with regard to bankruptcy asset exemptions. In particular, excessive bankruptcy exemptions can be counter-productive. Finally, we argue that entrepreneurial activity is important when studying different bankruptcy rules or regulations.Economic models; Financial stability; Financial system regulation and policies

Revenue Losses from Exemptions of Goods from the Georgia Sales and Use Tax

This report provides estimates of the revenue loss from sales tax exemptions. FRC Report 13

Can the removal of VAT Exemptions support the Poor? The Case of Niger

In order to have the public funds necessary for its development, Niger is examining the possibility of expanding its VAT tax base to exempted goods and basic food products. This proposal has prompted violent opposition leading to the question of the social impacts of taxation. The first micro-macro computable general equilibrium model of Niger's actual economy has been developed. This model allows analysis of the social impact and distributional analysis of the following VAT structures: a pure VAT structure, a structure maintaining certain exemptions, and a multiple-rate VAT structure. The model’s results shows that although restoring the VAT rate would be socially costly compared to the initial situation, the distributional impact of the VAT differs according to the system implemented in the country. Maintaining VAT exemptions in food crop agriculture sectors associated with a tax base expansion in the remaining sectors will increase public revenue while taking into account the national goal of poverty reduction. The net social impact of exoneration depends on the economic structure of the concerned sector. If the national goal is the end of exemption, the model shows that applying a pure VAT conforming to the theory is preferable in terms of economic growth whereas applying a reduced-rate on food crop agriculture lightens the social impact of the end of exemptions compared to a single rate.distributional analysis, Value Added Tax, exemptions, micro-simulation, Computable general equilibrium model, niger

Can the removal of VAT Exemptions support the Poor? The Case of Niger

In order to have the public funds necessary for its development, Niger is examining the possibility of expanding its VAT tax base to exempted goods and basic food products. This proposal has prompted violent opposition leading to the question of the social impacts of taxation. The first micro-macro computable general equilibrium model of Niger's actual economy has been developed. This model allows analysis of the social impact and distributional analysis of the following VAT structures: a pure VAT structure, a structure maintaining certain exemptions, and a multiple-rate VAT structure. The model's results shows that although restoring the VAT rate would be socially costly compared to the initial situation, the distributional impact of the VAT differs according to the system implemented in the country. Maintaining VAT exemptions in food crop agriculture sectors associated with a tax base expansion in the remaining sectors will increase public revenue while taking into account the national goal of poverty reduction. The net social impact of exoneration depends on the economic structure of the concerned sector. If the national goal is the end of exemption, the model shows that applying a pure VAT conforming to the theory is preferable in terms of economic growth whereas applying a reduced-rate on food crop agriculture lightens the social impact of the end of exemptions compared to a single rate.distributional analysis;Value Added Tax;exemptions;micro-simulation;Computable general equilibrium model;niger