An analogue of the Magnus problem for associative algebras

We prove an analogue of the Magnus theorem for associative algebras without unity over arbitrary fields. Namely, if an algebra is given by n+k generators and k relations and has an n-element system of generators, then this algebra is a free algebra of rank n

Почему применение механизма налоговой консолидации в России привело к существенным потерям для бюджета?

In Russia, the consolidated tax regime was introduced in 2012 but in 2019 the decision was made to abolish it from 2023. The initial reform purported to discourage companies from using transfer pricing for domestic transactions between companies of one group and to ensure a more just allocation of the corporate income tax across Russian regions. In practice, however, the government’s shortfall in tax revenue reached two billion US dollars in certain years or 0.15% of Russia’s GDP. Our analysis has shown that the publicly available data are, unfortunately, insufficient for assessing the success of this reform, in particular, whether the two above-mentioned goals were achieved. However, we can focus on the role the following two factors played in the budgetary losses. The first such factor is that profits and losses of group members can be consolidated within one accounting (fiscal) period. The second factor is that consolidated taxpayer groups shift their tax bases to regions with lower tax rates (in some cases, regions established tax preferences explicitly for the purpose of attracting members of these groups). These loopholes reveal the deficiencies of the Russian consolidation model: for example, the ‘everybody or nobody’ principle is not applied in Russia and consolidated taxpayer groups are allowed to form the perimeter of tax consolidation themselves. In this paper, statistical tax reporting data are used to estimate the total amount of the shortfall in tax revenue caused by the regional tax preferences granted to members of consolidated taxpayer groups. In some cases, as our analysis of regional tax legislation shows, these tax preferences were intended to ‘steal’ the tax base from other regions or at least to prevent the regions’ own tax bases from being ‘stolen’ by rivals. Judging by the total figures, regional tax competition had a negative influence on budgetary revenues. This, however, was not the main factor as the shortfall in revenue was mostly caused by the possibility of immediate offset of losses within consolidated taxpayer groups.For citationKostrykina N.S., Korytin A.V. Why Did the Consolidated Tax Regime Cause Massive Losses in Tax Revenue in Russia? Journal of Tax Reform. 2020;6(1):6–21. DOI: 10.15826/jtr.2020.6.1.072.Article infoReceived January 31, 2020; Revised March 1, 2020; Accepted April 10, 2020Россия ввела механизм налоговой консолидации в 2012 г., а уже в 2019 г. приняла решение о его полной отмене, начиная с 2023 г. Вводя данный механизм в налоговое законодательство, правительство планировало устранить стимулы для применения трансфертных цен по внутрироссийским операциям между компаниями одной группы, а также обеспечить более справедливое распределение налога на прибыль между регионами России. На практике же оно столкнулось с выпадающими доходами бюджета, которые в определенные годы достигали двух миллиардов долларов США (0.15% от ВВП России). Авторы анализируют данные, доступные для независимого исследователя и делают вывод, что их недостаточно для оценки того, насколько были достигнуты две вышеупомянутые цели для бюджета, ради которых механизм консолидированных групп налогоплательщиков и вводился. В то же время, существует возможность оценить вклад факторов, которые привели к потерям бюджета. Первым таким фактором является возможность суммирования прибылей и убытков между участниками одной консолидированной группы налогоплательщиков в рамках одного отчетного (налогового) периода. Вторым же фактором является то, что консолидированные группы налогоплательщиков перераспределяют свою налоговую базу в регионы с пониженной региональной ставкой налога на прибыль: в ряде случаев региональные льготы специально устанавливались для членов консолидированных групп налогоплательщиков. Это возможно в силу ряда несовершенств модели консолидации, используемой в России. К примеру, правило «все-или-никто» не действует в России, и группы могут произвольно формировать периметр налоговой консолидации. Авторы используют данные статистических форм налоговой отчетности для определения общей величины выпадающих доходов бюджета от предоставления региональных льгот участникам консолидированных групп налогоплательщиков. В ряде случаев региональное налоговое законодательство свидетельствует о том, что региональные льготы по налогу на прибыль вводились специально для того, чтобы «перетянуть» налоговую базу других регионов или, как минимум, предотвратить «перетягивание» своей налоговой базы другими регионами. Итоговые цифры говорят о том, что региональная налоговая конкуренция имела негативное влияние на доходы бюджета. В то же время, это не было определяющим фактором. Основная сумма выпадающих доходов бюджета связана с возможностью мгновенного зачета убытков в рамках консолидированной группы налогоплательщиков.Для цитированияКострыкина Н.С., Корытин А.В. Почему применение механизма налоговой консолидации в России привело к существенным потерям для бюджета? // Journal of Tax Reform. – 2020. – Т. 6, № 1. – С. 6–21. – DOI: 10.15826/jtr.2020.6.1.072.Информация о статьеДата поступления 31 января 2020 г.; дата поступления после рецензирования 1 марта 2020 г.; дата принятия к печати 10 апреля 2020 г.

Development of the tax incentive mechanism in the field of information technology

The relevance of the work is explained by the amendments to the tax legislation related to IT companies in Russia, the so-called “IT maneuver” adopted in 2021. Income tax and social insurance benefits were increased, while VAT exemption was reduced. In September 2021, the Government of the Russian Federation approved the second package of measures to support the IT industry, which includes several tax measures. The purpose of the second package is to increase the demand for domestic IT products, to accelerate digital transformation of the economy and social sphere, as well as to create favorable conditions for doing IT business in Russia. In this regard, the subject of our study is the mechanism of taxation and measures of tax policy for IT sector. The goal of the study is to analyze the effectiveness of tax incentives for the development and sale of products of IT industry with the aim of increasing the export of high value-added services, as well as assessing the impact of benefits on insurance premiums on the development of the information technology industry in Russia. The research method consists in analyzing domestic proposals for stimulating the IT industry as part of the “IT maneuver” and comparing them with foreign approaches to the development of the IT sector. To analyze the effectiveness of tax incentives, we use an empirical estimation of the dynamics of IT enterprises’ economic performance, which is then compared between two samples: 1) a sample of enterprises enjoying the IT benefit, and 2) a sample of enterprises that don’t have any benefits. The findings show that companies enjoying the IT benefit on social insurance payments significantly outpace companies that did not have the benefit in terms of economic growth. We draw a conclusion that the IT benefits encourage the development of the IT industry. The recommendations are to continue the expansion of incentives for the IT industry as part of the “IT maneuver”, taking into account various comments. In particular, it is necessary to develop additional measures to support small businesses in the IT sector, as well as to develop a mechanism against the use of IT benefits for tax optimization purposes only

Comparison of two histological techniques for age determination in small cetaceans

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Подходы к налогообложению добычи медеи никельсодержащих руд на примере зарубежного опыта

The subject. This article discusses the taxation of copper and nickel extraction in Australia, Canada, Chile, Kazakhstan and USAThe purpose of the article is to confirm or disprove the hypothesis that the experience of taxation of copper and nickel extraction in Australia, Canada, Chile, Kazakhstan and USA may be used for modifying the mineral extraction tax (MET) in Russia in order to increase the share of resource rent collected by the government.The methodology of research includes legal interpretation and economic analysis of the tax legislation in United States, Canada, Australia, Chile and Kazakhstan as countries with a well-developed tax system and a significant size of the mining sector in overall GDP.The authors select the legislative acts of these countries and regions that determine the procedure for collecting taxes in the extraction of metal ores, including those containing copper and nickel, as well as in the production of copper and nickel. The selected legislative acts are analyzed to determine the essential parameters of taxation. Particular attention is paid to the method of calculating the tax base, taking into account the approach to assessing the value of the taxable object, permissible tax deductions and exceptions, which allows authors to test the hypothesis put forward by determining which part of the value of a mineral resource is withdrawn during taxation.The main results, scope of application. Mineral extraction tax is the main tool for collecting natural resource rent in Russia. However, the level of taxation of solid minerals and coal is disproportionately low compared to their share in the production and export of raw materials. Thus, in 2018, the amount of MET on all minerals totaled 100.5 billion rubles, while the MET collected from oil and natural gas amounted to 5,979.6 billion rubles, i.e. 60 times as much. At the same time, the role of solid minerals in the Russian economy is comparable to the role of oil and gas. The share of the main types of minerals in the exports of the Russian Federation in 2018 was 20.4% compared to 56% for oil and gas, i.e. the difference of less than three times. The contribution of the industries related to the extraction of minerals and production of metals (mining of coal, ores, diamonds, metallurgy, fertilizer production) to the Russian GDP is about half as much as that of industries involved in the extraction and processing of oil and natural gas (7% and 14% of GDP respectively).In view of the above, it is important to develop a new approach to the taxation of solid minerals in Russia based on the world’s best practices. In order to identify the general principles of their taxation, we have conducted a detailed analysis of the tax legislation in a number of countries with a well-developed tax system and a significant size of the mining sector (the United States, Canada, Australia, Chile and Kazakhstan). We focused on the taxation of copper and nickel ores mining.Conclusions. The analysis of the international experience of taxation of copper and nickel mining sector reveals the following trend: the tax is calculated based on the market value of the extracted minerals, which is linked to the price quotes for the relevant product on an organized metal exchange (for example, the price of pure metal on the London Metal Exchange). This approach can be used in the Russian tax practice in several ways. First, Russia can adopt the Australian model where royalty on a mineral resource can be levied at the time of sale of the useful component irrespective of the processing stage (ore, concentrate or metal). The second potential model is based on the actual sale price of the product (provided it is sold in an arm’s length transaction) after deducting the costs of processing (i.e., smelting, enrichment etc., depending on the stage of processing) to arrive at the market value of the ore at the "mine mouth". The third is the Canadian model which is similar to the second one, but with the extraction costs also deducted from the sale price.Налог на доход от добычи полезных ископаемых (НДПИ) является главным способом изъятия природной ренты в России. Однако этот налог в основном ложится на нефтегазовую отрасль, в то время как уровень налогообложения руд цветных металлов (в частности, многокомпонентных комплексных руд, содержащих медь и никель) очень низок и не соответствует их доли в производстве и экспорте сырья. Ввиду этого становится актуальной задача поиска новых подходов к налогообложению медеи никельсодержащих руд исходя из принципов, принятых в мировой практике. В работе детально исследовано налоговое законодательство в отношении добычи и производства меди и никеля в странах с развитой налоговой системой на примере Австралии, Канады, США, Чили и Казахстана. На основе проведенного анализа сформулированы подходы к совершенствованию НДПИ в отношении руд цветных металлов и многокомпонентных комплексных руд, предполагающие связать размер налога с рыночной стоимостью добытых полезных ископаемых

Brown bear attacks on humans : a worldwide perspective

The increasing trend of large carnivore attacks on humans not only raises human safety concerns but may also undermine large carnivore conservation efforts. Although rare, attacks by brown bears Ursus arctos are also on the rise and, although several studies have addressed this issue at local scales, information is lacking on a worldwide scale. Here, we investigated brown bear attacks (n = 664) on humans between 2000 and 2015 across most of the range inhabited by the species: North America (n = 183), Europe (n = 291), and East (n = 190). When the attacks occurred, half of the people were engaged in leisure activities and the main scenario was an encounter with a female with cubs. Attacks have increased significantly over time and were more frequent at high bear and low human population densities. There was no significant difference in the number of attacks between continents or between countries with different hunting practices. Understanding global patterns of bear attacks can help reduce dangerous encounters and, consequently, is crucial for informing wildlife managers and the public about appropriate measures to reduce this kind of conflicts in bear country.Peer reviewe