Tax Burden of Russian Oil Companies after Tax Consolidation

This article takes studying the impact of tax consolidation on oil companies' tax burden as its focus. Oil companies are crucial for the Russian economy while oil and gas money are as well important for the Russian budget. Besides, a lot of oil companies being major taxpayers have had the opportunity to consolidate corporate profit tax since 2012. The article's goal is to analyze the results of creating consolidated groups of taxpayers for tax burden in terms of corporate profit tax exemplified by oil companies in order to assess the importance of profit tax consolidation as a way of reducing corporate profit tax. Upon analyzing the data provided by the Federal Tax Service of Russia and 2010-2015 oil companies' financial reports, it is possible to conclude that the largest tax burden falls on fossil fuel industry in comparison with other industries what can be explained first of all by the mineral extraction tax. Corporate profit tax burden for most oil companies in 2014 accounted for 5% of revenue. At the same time, profit tax burdens on consolidated groups of taxpayers producing oil vary a lot; in 2012, the general trend was falling, but then it started to grow again. Thus, it is impossible to state that tax obligations and corporate profit tax burden have significantly decreased as a result of creating consolidated groups of taxpayers for oil producers. Quantitative analysis of money spent for paying the profit tax might be interestingfor describing consequences of creating consolidated groups of taxpayers

Differenzierung zwischen axonaler und demyelinisierender Schädigung bei Patienten mit Multipler Sklerose durch Untersuchung der hochfrequenten SEP-Komponenten nach Medianus-Stimulation

High-frequency (600 Hz) oscillations (HFOs) are superimposed onto the primary cortical response (N20) in human median nerve somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs). HFOs are generated both in deep axon segments of thalamo-cortical projection neurons and at the primary somatosensory cortex. To test the hypothesis that HFOs might be more sensitive to temporal dispersion caused by demyelinating lesions than the low-frequency N20, we compared HFOs in bilaterally tested median nerve SEPs in 50 patients with definite multiple sclerosis (MS) vs. 30 healthy controls. Three patterns of SEP alterations were found: (1) abolished HFOs with either normal N20 (11% of stimulated limbs) or delayed N20 (16%), reflecting a predominantly demyelinating process; (ii) an attenuated N20 amplitude with preserved HFOs (13%), indicating a mainly axonal lesion pattern; and (iii) mixed SEP alterations pointing to a combined axonal/demyelinating process (21%). Thus, HFOs provide a functional tool to distinguish axonal vs. demyelinating MS lesions. Furthermore, the combination of normal N20 with abolished HFOs points to an additional sensitivity of HFOs in comparison to routine SEP parameters for the detection of slight demyelinating processes which might be of interest, for example, in treatment monitoring

Differenzierung zwischen axonaler und demyelinisierender Schädigung bei Patienten mit Multipler Sklerose durch Untersuchung der hochfrequenten SEP-Komponenten nach Medianus-Stimulation

High-frequency (600 Hz) oscillations (HFOs) are superimposed onto the primary cortical response (N20) in human median nerve somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs). HFOs are generated both in deep axon segments of thalamo-cortical projection neurons and at the primary somatosensory cortex. To test the hypothesis that HFOs might be more sensitive to temporal dispersion caused by demyelinating lesions than the low-frequency N20, we compared HFOs in bilaterally tested median nerve SEPs in 50 patients with definite multiple sclerosis (MS) vs. 30 healthy controls. Three patterns of SEP alterations were found: (1) abolished HFOs with either normal N20 (11% of stimulated limbs) or delayed N20 (16%), reflecting a predominantly demyelinating process; (ii) an attenuated N20 amplitude with preserved HFOs (13%), indicating a mainly axonal lesion pattern; and (iii) mixed SEP alterations pointing to a combined axonal/demyelinating process (21%). Thus, HFOs provide a functional tool to distinguish axonal vs. demyelinating MS lesions. Furthermore, the combination of normal N20 with abolished HFOs points to an additional sensitivity of HFOs in comparison to routine SEP parameters for the detection of slight demyelinating processes which might be of interest, for example, in treatment monitoring