Reforming tax expenditure programs in Poland

Poland has recently begun reforming its tax program. In December 1999 it announced a gradual reduction in the corporate income tax rate, from 34 percent in 1999 to 22 percent in 2004. Value added and excise taxes are being harmonized with European Union directives, which means higher value added tax rates on unprocessed foodstuffs, municipal services, and construction material, and higher excise rates on tobacco and alcohol. The reform of personal income tax law has been delayed, because of concern about the fairness of a rate reduction for higher-income taxpayers and hesitation about the government's proposal to remove or scale down existing tax expenditure programs. Poland's personal income tax expenditure programs, introduced in 1992, have received growing attention as the cost of the programs has increased. Originally they were intended to compensate lower-income taxpayers for the withdrawal of price subsidies. But most of them are extremely regressive, benefiting higher-income taxpayers. Tax expenditures are reductions in tax liabilities that result from preferential provisions, such as deductions, exemptions, credits, deferrals, preferential tax rates, and exclusions from taxation. They are effective government spending channeled through the tax system, usually as substitutes for direct government spending to achieve fiscal and political objectives. The authors contend that strengthening the administration of Poland's tax expenditure programs is the first step toward making them effective and equitable, limiting their costs, and preventing the tax base from shrinking. They discuss options for increasing the scrutiny of the tax expenditure programs, defining their opportunity costs and effect on the tax system. Currently these programs enjoy a funding advantage over direct spending programs because they are not subject to systematic review. To limit the expansion of these programs and reduce their less desirable effects on the system, the authors suggest defining a benchmark tax structure, establishing sunset dates for the programs, forecasting their costs, and reviewing their economic effectiveness, efficiency, and equity by comparing them with direct expenditures and subsidies.Tax Policy and Administration,Public Sector Economics&Finance,Taxation&Subsidies,Environmental Economics&Policies,Strategic Debt Management

Solitons in tunnel-coupled repulsive and attractive condensates

We study solitons in the condensate trapped in a double-well potential with far-separated wells, when the s-wave scattering length has different signs in the two parts of the condensate. By employing the coupled-mode approximation it is shown that there are unusual stable bright solitons in the condensate, with the larger share of atoms being gathered in the repulsive part. Such unusual solitons derive their stability from the quantum tunneling and correspond to the strong coupling between the parts of the condensate. The ground state of the system, however, corresponds to weak coupling between the condensate parts, with the larger share of atoms being gathered in the attractive part of the condensate.Comment: LaTex, 23 pages, 6 figures; revised version; to appear in Physical Review

Comment on ``Validity of Feynman's prescription of disregarding the Pauli principle in intermediate states''

In a recent paper Coutinho, Nogami and Tomio [Phys. Rev. A 59, 2624 (1999); quant-ph/9812073] presented an example in which, they claim, Feynman's prescription of disregarding the Pauli principle in intermediate states of perturbation theory fails. We show that, contrary to their claim, Feynman's prescription is consistent with the exact solution of their example.Comment: 1 pag

Rationale, study design, and analysis plan of the Alveolar Recruitment for ARDS Trial (ART): study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is associated with high in-hospital mortality. Alveolar recruitment followed by ventilation at optimal titrated PEEP may reduce ventilator-induced lung injury and improve oxygenation in patients with ARDS, but the effects on mortality and other clinical outcomes remain unknown. This article reports the rationale, study design, and analysis plan of the Alveolar Recruitment for ARDS Trial (ART). ART is a pragmatic, multicenter, randomized (concealed), controlled trial, which aims to determine if maximum stepwise alveolar recruitment associated with PEEP titration is able to increase 28-day survival in patients with ARDS compared to conventional treatment (ARDSNet strategy). We will enroll adult patients with ARDS of less than 72 h duration. The intervention group will receive an alveolar recruitment maneuver, with stepwise increases of PEEP achieving 45 cmH2O and peak pressure of 60 cmH2O, followed by ventilation with optimal PEEP titrated according to the static compliance of the respiratory system. In the control group, mechanical ventilation will follow a conventional protocol (ARDSNet). In both groups, we will use controlled volume mode with low tidal volumes (4 to 6 mL/kg of predicted body weight) and targeting plateau pressure ≤30 cmH2O. The primary outcome is 28-day survival, and the secondary outcomes are: length of ICU stay; length of hospital stay; pneumothorax requiring chest tube during first 7 days; barotrauma during first 7 days; mechanical ventilation-free days from days 1 to 28; ICU, in-hospital, and 6-month survival. ART is an event-guided trial planned to last until 520 events (deaths within 28 days) are observed. These events allow detection of a hazard ratio of 0.75, with 90% power and two-tailed type I error of 5%. All analysis will follow the intention-to-treat principle. If the ART strategy with maximum recruitment and PEEP titration improves 28-day survival, this will represent a notable advance to the care of ARDS patients. Conversely, if the ART strategy is similar or inferior to the current evidence-based strategy (ARDSNet), this should also change current practice as many institutions routinely employ recruitment maneuvers and set PEEP levels according to some titration method.13Hospital do Coracao (HCor) as part of the Program 'Hospitais de Excelencia a Servico do SUS (PROADI-SUS); Brazilian Ministry of Healt

Efeito do escoamento da água de chuva em diferentes coberturas,

Os sistemas de captação de água de chuva utilizados pelos agricultores do semiárido brasileiro apresentam diferentes valores do coeficiente de escoamento superficial, o que pode ser responsável pela perda de volume de água significativo, devido à irregularidade das áreas de captação; portanto, são necessários estudos para que possam indicar os melhores sistemas de captação de água de chuva na região. Este trabalho teve como objetivo testar diferentes áreas de captação, visando obtenção de resultados que indiquem qual a área mais adequada para ser utilizada no semiárido brasileiro. Foram testados quatro tipos de área de captação: cobertura de argamassa de cimento e areia, cobertura de telha de cerâmica, cobertura de telha de fibrocimento, e cobertura de polietileno. Os resultados indicam que os maiores coeficientes de escoamento superficial ocorreram nas áreas com cobertura de telhas de fibrocimento e lona plástica de polietileno