Average Marginal Tax Rates from Social Security and the Individual Income Tax

We extend previous estimates of the average marginal tax rate from the federal individual income tax to include social security "contributions." The social security tax is a flat-rate levy on labor earnings (and income from self-employment) up to a ceiling value of earnings. Our computations consider first, the tax rates on employers, employees and the self-employed; second the amounts of income that accrue to persons with earnings below the ceiling; and third, the effective deductibility of employer's social security contributions from workers' taxable income. We find that the net impact of social security on the average marginal tax rate is below .02 until 1966, but than rises to .03 in 1968, .04 in 1973, .05 in 1974,and .06 in 1979. Thus, since 1965, the overall average marginal tax rate rises more rapidly than that from the income tax alone. In 1980 this overall rate is 36%. We note that, in comparison with the income tax, the social security levy generates 3-4 times as much revenue per unit of contribution to the average marginal tax rate. The social security tax is relatively "efficient" because first, it is a flat-rate tax (rather than a graduated one) for earnings below the ceiling, and second, there is a zero marginal tax rate at the top. However, the last feature has become less important in recent years. The rapid increase in the ceiling on earnings raised the fraction of total salaries and wages accruing to persons with earnings below the ceiling from 29% in 1965 to 68% in 1982.

Measuring the Average Marginal Tax Rate from the Individual Income Tax

The economic effects of taxation depend on the configuration of marginal tax rates. We consider here the appropriate measure of a marginal tax rate for the federal individual income tax, which has a graduated-rate structure and allows for numerous legal and illegal deductions from total income.Our conclusion is that the explicit marginal rate from the tax schedule is the right concept for many purposes.Hence, we construct approximately weighted averages of these marginal tax rates for 1916-80. When weighted by adjusted gross income, the arithmetic average of marginal tax rates is 5% in 1920, 2%in 1930, 6% in 1940, 20% in 1950, 23% in 1960, 24% in 1970, and 30% in 1980.We also discuss the dispersion of marginal tax rates, as well as the behavior of average tax rates and deductions from taxable income. One noteworthy result concerns the fraction of adjusted gross income that accrues to families that face a marginal tax rate of at least 35%. This fraction quadruples from 1964 to 1980.

Measuring the Average Marginal Tax Rate from the Individual Income Tax

The economic effects of taxation depend on the configuration of marginal tax rates. We consider here the appropriate measure of a marginal tax rate for the federal individual income tax, which has a graduated-rate structure and allows for numerous legal and illegal deductions from total income. Our conclusion is that the explicit marginal rate from the tax schedule is the right concept for many purposes. Hence, we construct approximately weighted averages of these marginal tax rates for 1916-80. When weighted by adjusted gross income, the arithmetic average of marginal tax rates is 5% in 1920, 2% in 1930, 6% in 1940, 20% in 1950, 23% in 1960, 24% in 1970, and 30% in 1980.Economic

Average Marginal Tax Rates from Social Security and the Individual Income Tax

We extend previous estimates of the average marginal tax rate from the federal individual income tax to include social security. Our computations consider the tax rates on employers, employees, and the self-employed; the income that accrues to persons with earnings below the ceiling; and the effective deductibility of employers' social security contributions from workers' taxable income. The next effect of social security on the average marginal tax rate is below .02 until 1966 but then rises to .03 in 1968, .04 in 1973, .05 in 1974, .06 in 1979, and .07 in 1982.Economic

Investigating arsenic contents in surface and drinking water by voltammetry and the method of standard additions

Testing water samples for arsenic (As) contamination has become an important water quality issue worldwide. Arsenic usually occurs in very small concentrations and a sensitive analytical method is needed. We present here a 1-day laboratory module developed to introduce Earth Sciences and/or Chemistry student undergraduates to key aspects of this topical issue. In this practical session, students were first introduced to the worldwide problems of arsenic contamination in groundwaters as a motivation of the experimental work. This latter consisted in the quantification of As levels in surface and drinking water at the trace level (nM - ppb) using the electroanalytical technique of anodic stripping voltammetry and the method of standard addition. Results were then discussed with respect to water quality guidelines and geology. The complexity of data interpretation in this exercise can be tailored to a range of abilities and subject areas suited to the students and the course

Living With Volatilities: Managing Exchange Rate and Capital Flows in The SEACEN Economies

This Occasional Paper was prepared by Bank of Thailand as a background paper to facilitate discussions among the SEACEN Governors at the 42nd SEACEN Governors' Conference held on 27-29 July 2007 in Bangkok, Thailand. The objective of the paper is to highlight the current global economic and financial environment and their risks and to review SEACEN members' experiences in dealing with recent volatilities. The paper also discusses policy options available to SEACEN member banks in dealing with volatilities in exchange rates and capital flows. The Appendix on ¡°Exchange Rates and Capital Flows in the SEACEN Countries¡± was prepared by The SEACEN Centre to provide cross country information on current policy framework and recent policy changes in exchange rate regimes and capital flow management framework of the SEACEN countries and also key economic indicators.

Mesoporous TiO2/Fe2O3 bicomposites: synthesis and mechanistic studies of arsenic scavenging

Many parts of the world have arsenic contamination problems in drinking and ground water. The high toxicity of arsenic threatens people’s health, since exposure to it can cause cancer and other dangerous diseases. Inorganic arsenic in natural water is found in two oxidation states, AsV(arsenate) or AsIII(arsenite). AsIII has the highest toxicity comparing with AsV and difficult to remove due to zero charge species of AsIII at pH below 9. Consequently, photocatalytic oxidation of arsenite is a key challenge to improve removal efficiencies of future sorbents. Recent work has suggested that a TiO2/Fe2O3 binary mixed oxides could play a key role in the design of future sorbents as it combines photocatalytic oxidation and adsorptive properties alike. The aim of this thesis presented was to characterise the interaction of arsenic with TiO2/Fe2O3 binary mixed oxides synthesised using different methods and to critically evaluate the potential of these bicomposites for future development work. To this end, three different synthetic methods with respect to cost, time and energy consumption during production were tested. The mechanisms of arsenic interaction were assessed using macroscopic (i.e. adsorption isotherms, adsorption kinetics) and microscopic (i.e. synchrotron techniques) studies and the photocatalytic oxidation was studied using synchrotron and UV irradiation. An electrochemical method for detection of arsenic has been implemented for the accurate analytical determination of AsIII and AsV down to levels of 0.4 ppb using stripping voltammetry. TiO2/Fe2O3 binary mixed oxides have been prepared using a co-precipitation method, a mesoporous method and sol-gel method. The adsorption capacities of AsIII on mesoporous TiO2/Fe2O3 binary mixed oxides were found at 29.44±2.99, 22.64±1.74 and 21.60±0.33 mg g-1 at pH 5, 7 and 9, respectively. The adsorption kinetics study found the rate constant (k2) 0.02 g mg-1 min-1. The photocatalytic oxidation rate constant (kox) of AsIII onto the surface of TiO2/Fe2O3 binary mixed oxides with synchrotron beam irradiation found in between 0.062 to 0.078 min-1. Additionally, the rate constant (kox) of AsIII phototalytic oxidation in bicomposite suspension with UV irradiation found at 4.37x10-3 min-1. The binding mode of AsIII and AsV onto the surface of TiO2/Fe2O3 binary mixed oxides was to be a bidentate mononuclear edge sharing (2E) complex and a bidentate binuclear corner sharing (2C) complex. Mesoporous TiO2/Fe2O3 binary mixed oxides have been highlighted to be the best bicomposites in this study due to the highest adsorption capacities and ability to photocatalytic oxidation of AsIII to AsV.Open Acces

Asian currency crisis contagion

A multi-period macroeconomic model is constructed to investigate the spread of financial crisis from Thailand to Korea in 1997. Unlike previous studies, this model is based on empirical data from 1993 to 1999. The baseline model replicated well the relevant events during the crisis, including the devaluation of Thai baht in the third quarter of 1997 and the devaluation of Korean won in the following quarter. Using the baseline model, two possible channels of transmission were tested. After blocking only the first channel, Thai crisis effects on investors\u27 expected risk of investing in Korea, the crisis would no longer spread to Korea. However, after blocking only the second channel, trade competition between Thailand and Korea, the crisis still spread to Korea. This suggests that the first channel is the more important transmission pathway. Different scenarios including measures that the local governments could have adopted were tried out. First, voluntary devaluation by Thailand in the second quarter of 1997 appears beneficial to both Thailand and Korea, as it allows Thailand to keep more foreign reserves and causes less disruption in the financial markets. The effectiveness of the second approach, capital control by Korea in the wake of Thai crisis, would depend on the investors\u27 sensitivity to the additional risks resulting from capital control. Only if the sensitivity is low, capital control might be an effective tool to avoid the currency crisis. The third scenario shows that the crisis in Korea could have been avoided due to a large accumulation of foreign reserves if the won had been devalued in 1994. The fourth scenario demonstrates that if the problems in the industrial and banking sectors in Korea had been revealed earlier, the crisis might have actually started in Korea and would have made the crisis in Thailand occur sooner than in the third quarter of 1997. The last scenario, voluntary devaluation by Thailand in the second quarter of 1997 with an endogenous shift of the variance of Thai asset returns, provides similar results as in the first scenario