Taxation of Foreign Business and Investment in the People\u27s Republic Of China

Up until the last six or seven years, very little attention has been paid in the West to the tax system of the People\u27s Republic of China ( PRC or China ). This is understandable since, in the immediate post-liberation years, many countries in the Western Hemisphere tried hard to pretend that the PRC did not exist at all. Following its break with the Soviet Union in 1960, China adhered firmly to a policy of self-reliance. China\u27s opening to the West, in economic terms, did not really begin until approximately 1978. Given the type of economic system which had evolved in China before that date, it was also assumed, although not entirely accurately, there could be little scope for a tax system of any type

The Cosmological Slingshot Scenario: A Stringy Early Times Universe

A cosmological model for the early time Universe is proposed. In this model, the Universe is a wandering brane moving in a warped throat of a Calabi-Yau space. A non-zero angular momentum induces a turning point in the brane trajectory, and leads to a bouncing cosmology as experienced by an observer living on the brane. The Universe undergoes a decelerated contraction followed by an accelerating expansion and no big-bang singularity. Although the number of e-folds of accelerated motion is low (less than 2), standard cosmological problems are not present in our model thanks to the absence of an initial singularity and the violation of energy conditions of mirage matter at high energies. Density perturbations are also calculated in our model and we find a slightly red spectral index with negligible tensorial perturbations in compatibility with WMAP data.Comment: v5: clarifications and references added, results unchanged, version accepted in Class. Quant. Grav. (2008), 34 pages, 5 figure

The Cosmological Slingshot Scenario: Myths and Facts

We generalize the Cosmological Slingshot Scenario for a Slingshot brane moving in a Klebanov-Strassler throat. We show that the horizon and isotropy problems of standard cosmology are avoided, while the flatness problem is acceptably alleviated. Regarding the primordial perturbations, we identify their vacuum state and elucidate the evolution from the quantum to the classical regimes. Also, we calculate their exact power spectrum showing its compatibility with current data. We discuss the bouncing solution from a four dimensional point of view. In this framework the radial and angular motion of the Slingshot brane are described by two scalar fields. We show that the bouncing solution for the scale factor in String frame is mapped into a monotonically increasing (in conformal time) solution in the Einstein frame. We finally discuss about the regularity of the geometry in Einstein frame.Comment: 16 pages, 2 figs. Major clarifications and references added, version accepted in Gen. Rel. Grav. (2009

Tax incentives for foreign direct investment part II : Design considerations

Part I of this article concluded that tax incentives for foreign direct investment (FDI) have become increasingly common over the past 10 years or so, especially among developing countries, and that there is substantial evidence to support the proposition that tax considerations now play an important role in many investment decisions. Countries seeking to attract FDI often feel compelled to offer tax inducements that are at least as attractive as those offered by their neighbours or competitors. Countries do so at a cost, however, and that cost may be substantial. Governments are thus placed in a dilemma - can they afford to cut taxes in order to attract investment, and can they afford not to? The second part of this article assumes that countries, and especially most developing countries, will continue to feel obliged to provide tax incentives. The aim of this part therefore is to examine ways in which those incentives can be made more effective and more efficient, thereby reducing their cost to the host country.<br /

Tax incentives for foreign direct investment part I : Recent trends and countertrends

According to the conventional wisdom, tax incentives for investment - in particular for foreign direct investment (FDI) - are not recommended. That is the view held almost universally by theorists and by the international bodies that advise on tax matters.\u27 Tax incentives are bad in theory and bad in practice. They are bad in theory principally because they cause distortions: investment decisions are made that would not have been made without the inducement of special tax concessions. They are bad in practice, being both ineffective and inefficient. They are ineffective in that tax considerations are only rarely a major determinant in FDI decisions; they are inefficient because their cost, in terms of tax revenue foregone, often far exceeds any benefits they may produce. Other criticisms are also frequently levelled against tax incentives for FDI - they are inequitable (since they benefit some investors but not others), they are difficult to administer and open to abuse, and they lack transparency. Thus, it is not surprising that \u27\u27the standard advice given by institutions like the World Bank and the lMF to developing countries is to refrain from offering tax incentives to foreign investors&quot;.2 The purpose of this article is not to question that advice or to challenge the conventional wisdom - except in one respect. Recent evidence does suggest that tax considerations are an increasingly important factor in investment decisions and that special tax incentives have become substantially more effective as instruments for attracting FDI than they were 10 or 20 years ago.3 The first part of this article, published here, examines some of that evidence, reviews some recent trends in national policies towards FDI, attempts to suggest why investment incentives have become more important and more effective, and looks at the pressures that are exerted on governments, especially in developing countries, to compete for FDI by offering special incentives. The second part of the article, to be published in the Bulletin next month, assumes that many countries will continue to offer tax incentives to investors regardless of the best advice, and considers how incentives might be designed in order to increase their effectiveness and efficiency.<br /

Taxation of Foreign Business and Investment in the People\u27s Republic Of China

Up until the last six or seven years, very little attention has been paid in the West to the tax system of the People\u27s Republic of China ( PRC or China ). This is understandable since, in the immediate post-liberation years, many countries in the Western Hemisphere tried hard to pretend that the PRC did not exist at all. Following its break with the Soviet Union in 1960, China adhered firmly to a policy of self-reliance. China\u27s opening to the West, in economic terms, did not really begin until approximately 1978. Given the type of economic system which had evolved in China before that date, it was also assumed, although not entirely accurately, there could be little scope for a tax system of any type