The personal income tax applied in the member states of European Union. The case of Spain.

In the Communication on "Tax policy in the European Union - Priorities for the years ahead" (COM/2001/260 of 23 May 2001), the Commission reiterated its belief that there is no need for an across the board harmonisation of Member States' direct tax systems. For tax policy, the Communication established, as a main priority, the need to address the concerns of individuals and businesses operating within the Internal Market by focusing on the elimination of tax obstacles to all forms of cross-border economic activity, in addition to continuing the fight against harmful tax competition. This approach was confirmed in the Communication "The contribution of taxation and customs policies to the Lisbon strategy" (COM/2005/532 of 25 October 2005) (European Commission, 2006). The Spanish Law No 35/2006, 28 th November of Personal Income Tax, reformed that tax. The long-term capital gains will be taxed at 18% (before 15%) ;the tax scale will be comprised of only 3 or 4 brackets (before 5) and the top marginal rate (before 45%) will be reduced; and some tax credits and allowances (acquisition of permanent home and contributions to pension funds for example) were readjusted in order to make them more accessible to low-income earners. The present paper makes a brief approach to the harmonisation in the European Union, explains the reform of the Spanish Personal Income Tax, introduces new figures and formulas never seen before at book of taxes, analyses the concept of the Spanish Personal Income Tax, studies the elements of this tax as the beneficiary, taxable person, territoriality, basis of assessment, exemptions, explains the basic mechanism of the tax, deductions, the taxable base, the tax rates, collections and examples. This paper is the result of three researches that the authors are carrying out at The Institute for Fiscal Studies, Ministry of Economy and Finance, University of CEU San Pablo, Madrid and University of Oviedo Spain from 2006 to 2008

Seshat: The Global History Databank

The vast amount of knowledge about past human societies has not been systematically organized and, therefore, remains inaccessible for empirically testing theories about cultural evolution and historical dynamics. For example, what evolutionary mechanisms were involved in the transition from the small-scale, uncentralized societies, in which humans lived 10,000 years ago, to the large-scale societies with an extensive division of labor, great differentials in wealth and power, and elaborate governance structures of today? Why do modern states sometimes fail to meet the basic needs of their populations? Why do economies decline, or fail to grow? In this article, we describe the structure and uses of a massive databank of historical and archaeological information, Seshat: The Global History Databank. The data that we are currently entering in Seshat will allow us and others to test theories explaining how modern societies evolved from ancestral ones, and why modern societies vary so much in their capacity to satisfy their members’ basic human needsPeer reviewedFinal Published versio

Rawls, John

No abstract available

Amphibian Contributions to Ecosystem Services

Ecosystems provide essential services for human society, which include provisioning, regulating, cultural, and supporting services. Amphibians provide provisioning services by serving as a food source for some human societies, especially in Southeast Asia. They also serve as models in medical research and provide potential for new pharmaceuticals such as analgesics and anti-viral drugs derived from skin secretions. Amphibians contribute to regulating services by reducing mosquito recruitment from ephemeral wetlands, potentially controlling other pest species, and indirectly through predation of insect pollinators. Often neglected, ecosystems also provide cultural services to human societies that increase the quality of human life through recreation, religion, spirituality, and aesthetics. As an abundant and diverse class of vertebrates, amphibians also play prominent roles in the culture of human societies through pathways such as mythology, literature, and art. Most research on the role of amphibians in ecosystems has been on their contribution to supporting services. This is also the area where amphibians are likely to have the largest contribution to ecosystem services. Supporting services have structural (e.g., habitat) and functional (e.g., ecosystem functions and processes) components. Amphibians can affect ecosystem structure through soil burrowing and aquatic bioturbation and ecosystem functions such as decomposition and nutrient cycling through waste excretion and indirectly through predatory changes in the food web. They also can control primary production in aquatic ecosystems through direct consumption and nutrient cycling. Unfortunately, amphibians are experiencing major declines and humans may be losing associated ecosystem services. It is important to understand how declines affect ecosystem services for human societies, but these declines can also serve as natural experiments to understand the role of amphibians in ecosystems

Pedalling for safety: Schoolchildren and safe active transport

This research will add to the international body of knowledge around safe active transport and its benefits for individuals and their communities. In order to achieve this, the report begins with a brief description of the risks associated with active transport, 3 and considers why active transport to school should be encouraged, despite the risks. Our dependence on cars is discussed in relation to the prevailing chauffeuring culture, before the objectives of the research are outlined. Chapter one concludes with an account of the methodology used to undertake this research, which combined a literature review and a search for educational resources with some participant observation field research. In chapter 2 we present a summary of the resources available to parents in Hamilton and provide a profile of the city, which is in many ways ideally suited to active transport, though participation rates are low. Chapter 3 discusses the benefits of active transport and the barriers to participation in it. Following a discussion that draws all the various strands together, we evaluate existing strategies with a view to endorsing those most likely to enhance safety, while also offering some further ideas on how to minimise the risks of active transport for children

'Penny banks' in Glasgow, 1850-1914

This paper explores the extent and nature of ‘Penny bank’ saving in Glasgow during the second half of the nineteenth century. Penny banks existed as part of the network of philanthropic organisations in the quintessential industrial city, and they were frequented by the poorer sections of the working class – those for whom saving represented a difficult and occasionally sacrificial effort. They were a voluntary and individualist decision to engage in saving, in contrast to the mutual organisations, such as friendly and industrial welfare societies which also proliferated in this period. The enormous success of penny banks in Glasgow, and throughout the United Kingdom, is powerful evidence that a great deal of saving was happening, even amongst the poorest sections of society. Careful examination of the activities of two penny banks suggests that they operated both as short-term liquidity stores and as vehicles for longer-term and larger-amount savings