In vivo precision of the GE Lunar iDXA for the measurement of visceral adipose tissue in adults: the influence of body mass index.

CoreScan is a new software for the GE Lunar iDXA, which provides a quantification of visceral adipose tissue (VAT). The objective of this study was to determine the in vivo precision of CoreScan for the measurement of VAT mass in a heterogeneous group of adults. Forty-five adults (aged 34.6 (8.6) years), ranging widely in body mass index (BMI 26.0 (5.2)  kg/m(2); 16.7-42.4 kg/m(2)), received two consecutive total body scans with repositioning. The sample was divided into two subgroups based on BMI, normal-weight and overweight/obese, for precision analyses. Subgroup analyses revealed that precision errors (RMSSD:%CV; root mean square standard deviation:% coefficient of variation) for VAT mass were 20.9 g:17.0% in the normal-weight group and 43.7 g:5.4% in overweight/obese groups. Our findings indicate that precision for DXA-VAT mass measurements increases with BMI, but caution should be used with %CV-derived precision error in normal BMI subjects.European Journal of Clinical Nutrition advance online publication, 15 October 2014; doi:10.1038/ejcn.2014.213

VAT indicators

Under the current VAT system defined in the Sixth VAT Directive, Member States are required to have a single VAT rate of at least 15% and may have a maximum of two reduced VAT rates set no lower than 5%. Annex H of the 6 Directive outlines the list of the goods and services to which reduced rates could apply. However, this basic structure which applies to all Member States is complicated by the numerous individual temporary derogations granted to particular Member States. Most of these specific rates (zero rate, super reduced rates, parking rate and so on) are to be found under the title XVI Transitional provisions Article 28 of the 6 Directive and most have been granted until the entry into force of the "definitive system" of VAT based on taxation in the Member State of origin. The aim of this paper is to shed some light on the application of the current VAT system to both VAT bases and rates among Member States. For the VAT bases, our indicators demonstrate the share of the base to which a specific VAT rate applies relative to the whole taxable base. For the VAT rates, focusing on the statutory standard VAT rate is not satisfactory. To take into account the existence of different VAT rates, we compute implicit VAT rates. These implicit VAT rates give an indication on the VAT burden. Our analysis shows that the standard VAT rate is far from applicable to the whole taxable base. In the year 2000, on average for the EU-15, 69% of the VAT taxable transactions value was taxed at the standard VAT rate. Moreover for some Member States, only around half of the taxable transactions were actually taxed at the standard VAT rate. Therefore, non-standard VAT rates are not the exception as they should be. Taking into account all VAT rates in force gives us an implicit VAT rate that is up to 30% lower than the standard rate in force in the Member States. In the year 2000, the EU-15 average for the statutory standard VAT rate was 19.4% with a minimum (compulsory) of 15% and a maximum of 25%. In contrast, the implicit VAT rate for the EU-15 was 15.9% with a larger volatility.VAT, European Union, Taxation, effective tax rates

The effect of the change in VAT rates on the consumer price index

In the autumn of 2006 the Magyar Nemzeti Bank launched a series of research projects on the pricing of products and services with non-regulated prices, which is expected to last for one and a half years. Store-level price quotes used for the Hungarian CSO’s (Central Statistical Office) consumer price index calculation serve as a basis for the research. As a first step, we examined how earlier changes in VAT rates (the VAT increase in January 2004 and the VAT cut in January 2006) influenced the prices of products and services. Our analysis is of particular importance as the VAT rate of certain products increased again in September 2006. Our findings show that while a larger part of the VAT increase was transmitted into consumer prices within a few months, the VAT cut reduced consumer prices to a much smaller extent, thus adding to the profit of stores – at least in the short run.Consumer Price Index, state dependent pricing, VAT-rates.

The regressivity of a value added tax: tax credit method and subtraction method — a Japanese case

Value added tax (VAT) is often described as a regressive tax because it taxes consumption, and the propensity to consume tends to decrease as income rises. Countries that maintain progressive tax systems take several measures to remove the regressivity of VAT. These measures include (i) exempting food and social necessities and (ii) taxing luxuries at high rates and necessities at low rates. VAT of the subtraction type has two main variants, namely the tax credit method and the subtraction method. These two types of VAT have theoretically the same effects on a firm’s liability for VAT and a firm’s decision on price in cases where there is only one rate and there are no exemptions. However, in cases where multiple rates and exemptions3 are implemented, these two types of VAT no longer have the same effects on a firm’s liability for VAT and a firm’s decision on price. In the European Union, multiple rates are used to mitigate the regressivity of VAT in several countries.4 In a recent EU Directive, the EU proposed a dual-rate structure, namely a standard rate of at least 15 per cent and a minimum rate of at least 5 per cent. Also proposed was the abolition of internal border controls by switching from the destination principle to the origin principle. This means that each Member State can set its own VAT rates to mitigate regressivity and to secure its revenue.5

NEW BORDERS OF VAT AFTER THE ACCESSION TO EU

The accession of Romania to EU involves the obligation to enforce the same rules as the other member states, VAT being a tax which must exist and which must not allow competition disturbance among the economic operators within different member states, as well as non-taxation or double taxation of the same operation in two different member states. The harmonization of VAT within EU has been done gradually. The value added tax (VAT) was established in the Economic European Community in 1970 by means of two “VAT Directives”. Representing the indirect tax with the highest weight in the GDP (Gross Domestic Product), the European Union has established an obligation according to which the member states contribute with a share of the cashed VAT to the EU budget.EU, VAT, accession

Reduced expression of chemerin in visceral adipose tissue associates with hepatic steatosis in patients with obesity

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate whether circulating levels and/or visceral adipose tissue (VAT) expression of recently described adipokines associate with histopathological severity of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), independent of obesity and insulin resistance. Methods: Serum levels of adiponectin, omentin, chemerin, monocyte chemoattractant protein-1, and secreted frizzled-related protein 4 were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in 81 patients with obesity and NAFLD and 18 lean control subjects. Expression in VAT was measured using real-time PCR and histopathological grading was scored using the NAFLD activity score (NAS). Results: When NAFLD patients were subdivided into groups with simple steatosis, borderline nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), and NASH, adiponectin serum levels and omentin expression were lower in NASH versus simple steatosis patients. Serum adiponectin was generally lower with higher histopathological grading. Chemerin VAT expression was negatively associated with NAS (r = -0.331, P = 0.022) and steatosis score (r = -0.335, P = 0.020), independent of age, BMI, and HOMA-IR. In addition, adjusting for chemerin VAT expression in a multivariate model explained part of the association between NAS and HOMA-IR. Conclusions: These findings suggest that lower VAT expression of chemerin in patients with obesity may be involved in the pathophysiology of hepatic steatosis, potentially by modulating the link between insulin resistance and NAFLD

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

VAT replacement or better administration?

VAT revenues in Ukraine are undermined by numerous privileges and low tax compliance due to manipulations and/or outright fraud causing inadequate tax collection and high tax refunds claims. Besides, there are both strong concerns about the vulnerability of the VAT system to corruption and complaints from businesses about delays in refunding. Feasible options to overcome the low VAT revenue problem include replacing VAT, e.g., with a general sales tax (GST), or improving VAT administration. We argue that a VAT is superior to a GST in Ukraine. However, VAT administration can be significantly improved. Especially, we recommend to introduce VAT accounts tied to supporting measures such as the cash method and automatic refunding of VAT; to increase spending on tax administration combined with a reform of the tax administration body (STA), simplify legislation, and favor law enforcement. We argue that the problems of tax evasion and privileges are closely related. A reduction of tax privileges potentially pushes firms towards more fraud. Better administration (such as due to VAT accounts) makes fraud schemes more expensive such that firms may be inclined to lobby for privileges. Therefore, we argue in favor of further and sustainable reductions of VAT privileges, in particular sector-specific privileges, as a necessary complement to improved tax administration. In this respect, we recommend to re-draft and to enforce the Law on State Aid and to include an assessment of all different forms of direct and implicit subsidies, including tax expenditures, in the regular reports of the Anti-Monopoly Committee to Verhovna Rada. Resulting higher tax compliance due to better administration and a growing tax base due to diminished privileges might then justify reducing the VAT rate.

Combining microsimulation and CGE models: Effects on equality of VAT reforms

Microsimulation models are apt to be the preferred instrument when applied, equality analyses of tax reforms in specific economies are undertaken. However, most of these models ignore general equilibrium effects, like changes in prices, and may therefore miss valuable information because of their partial nature. In this paper we combine a microsimulation model and a CGE model through feeding of CGE results on producer prices, pre-tax nominal incomes, wealth and transfers into the microsimulation model. The two main reforms studied are substitution of a uniform VAT rate on all goods and services (called the general VAT reform) and substitution of the non-uniform Norwegian VAT reform of 2001 (called the political VAT reform) for the previous, differentiated system. We find that the degree of equality is clearly increased with the political VAT reform and unchanged with the general VAT reform. Comparing these results with the case where CGE effects are not taken into account, i.e. a "traditional" microsimulation analysis, we find that equality is still increased with the political VAT reform while equality is now also increased with the general VAT reform instead of being unchangedmicro-macro links, indirect taxation, VAT reforms, Equality