An approach for prioritizing “down-the-drain” chemicals used in the household

This article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.Many chemicals are present in cleaning and personal care products, which after use are washed down the drain and find their way into water bodies, where they may impact the environment. This study surveyed individuals to determine what products were used most in the home, in an attempt to prioritize which compounds may be of most concern. The survey resulted in the identification of 14 categories of products consisting of 315 specific brands. The survey estimated that individuals each discharge almost 33 L of products per year down the drain. Dishwashing liquids and hand wash gels, which accounted for 40% of this volume, were selected for identification of specific ingredients. Ingredients were classified as surfactants, preservatives, fragrances or miscellaneous, with hand wash gels having a wider range of ingredients than dishwashing liquids. A review of the literature suggested that preservatives, which are designed to be toxic, and fragrances, where data on toxicity are limited, should be prioritized. The approach undertaken has successfully estimated use and provisionally identified some classes of chemicals which may be of most concern when used in cleaning and personal care products

How Would EU Corporate Tax Reform Affect US Investment in Europe?

This paper examines the likely impact of a proposed formula apportionment system for corporation tax in the EU on the inbound investment of US multinational companies. We pay attention to tax planning strategies that may be employed by US multinationals and investigate whether effective tax rates in Europe of US companies differ from those of European companies. The proposal is for an optional system: we estimate the extent to which both European and US companies would be likely to choose it taking into account their existing structures and future investment incentives. The relative position of US and European companies depends crucially on the taxation of foreign passive income.

Corporate Tax Competition between Firms

Firms' tax planning decisions, similar to their other operational decisions, are made in a competitive environment. Various stakeholders observe the tax payments and evaluate these against the relevant peer group, which creates interdependencies in the tax planning activities of firms. Introducing the concept of reputational loss we show the positive interdependence in a theoretical model and test it in a spatial econometric model. Empirical evidence suggests that benchmarking takes place both within countries and within industries, however for the latter it is important to include firms in large non-EU OECD countries. Further, the analysis shows that spatial interdependence is stronger for the largest firms and if they have an average effective tax rate above the statutory tax rate.Corporate Taxation; Benchmarking; Tax Competition; Spatial Econometrics

Radio-frequency magnetometry using a single electron spin

We experimentally demonstrate a simple and robust protocol for the detection of weak radio-frequency magnetic fields using a single electron spin in diamond. Our method relies on spin locking, where the Rabi frequency of the spin is adjusted to match the MHz signal frequency. In a proof-of-principle experiment we detect a 7.5 MHz magnetic probe field of 40 nT amplitude with <10 kHz spectral resolution over a T_1-limited noise floor of 0.3 nT/rtHz. Rotating-frame magnetometry may provide a direct and sensitive route to high-resolution spectroscopy of nanoscale nuclear spin signals

Corporate taxation in the OECD in a wider context

Against the background of increased globalisation statutory corporate tax rates have shown a clear downward trend over the last two decades. The sharp decline in these rates was accompanied by substantial tax base broadening and a comparable reduction in personal income tax rates only until the early 1990s. This suggests that corporate tax competition is of increasing importance. So far corporate tax revenues remain fairly stable. But an analysis of corporate taxation in the context of the overall tax systems shows that a substantial shift towards value added taxes has taken place. While the trends so far have been driven by smaller European countries, recent tax reforms indicate that increasing tax competition is inducing a shift towards consumption even for larger economies

Mardian v. Greenberg Family Trust, 131 Nev. Adv. Op. 72 (Sep. 24, 2015)

The Court concluded that the promissory note, which had security interest by both a deed of trust of Arizona real property and personal guaranties, was governed by Nevada limitations period because of the Nevada choice-of-law provision within the contract. Consequently, the Court held that the party seeking deficiency judgment was time-barred pursuant to NRS 40.455(1) because the judgment was not sought within six months of the foreclosure sale of the collateral property

McClendon v. Collins, 132 Nev. Adv. Op. 28 (April 21, 2016)

The issue here is whether a witness originally designated as a testifying expert who is then later de-designated may be deposed or called to testify at trial by an opposing party. The Court held that after an expert report has been disclosed, a testifying expert witness cannot regain the confidentiality protections of NRCP 26(b)(4)(B) by being de-designated as a non-testifying expert. The Court reasoned that after an expert witness loses protection under the statute that it is at the discretion of the district court as to whether the expert may be deposed or called to testify at trial by an opposing party

Inducing Low-Carbon Investment in the Electric Power Industry through a Price Floor for Emissions Trading

Uncertainty about long-term climate policy is a major driving force in the evolution of the carbon market price. Since this price enters the investment decision process of regulated firms, this uncertainty increases the cost of capital for investors and might deter invest-ments into new technologies at the company level. We apply a real options-based approach to assess the impact of climate change policy in the form of a constant or growing price floor on investment decisions of a single firm in a competitive environment. This firm has the opportunity to switch from a high-carbon “dirty” technology to a low-carbon “clean” technology. Using Monte Carlo simulation and dynamic programming techniques for real market data, we determine the optimal CO2 price floor level and growth rate in order to induce investments into the low-carbon technology. We show these findings to be robust to a large variety of input parameter settings.Carbon price, price floor, technological change, investment decision, real option approach

Corporate Taxation and Multinational Activity

This paper assesses the impact of corporate taxation on multinational activity. A numerically solvable general equilibrium model of trade and multinational firms is used to incorporate the following components of corporate taxation: parent and host country statutory corporate tax rates, withholding tax rates, and parent and host country depreciation allowances. We account for their differential impact under alternative methods of double taxation relief (i.e., credit, exemption, and deduction). The hypotheses regarding the effects of changes in the tax parameters are investigated in a panel of bilateral OECD outbound stocks of foreign direct investment (FDI) from 1991 to 2002. For this, we compile annual information on taxation to construct the largest existing panel of tax parameters at the bilateral level based on national tax law and bilateral tax treaties. Our findings indicate that the parent country's statutory corporate tax rate tends to foster outward FDI, whereas the host country's statutory corporate and withholding tax rates are negatively associated with outward FDI. Depreciation allowances exert a significant impact on FDI, as hypothesized.corporate taxation, foreign, direct investment, panel econometrics

Evidence for Profit Shifting with Tax Sensitive Capital Stocks

This paper contributes to the literature providing indirect evidence for profit shifting within multinational companies. In contrast to the previous studies we account for the tax responsiveness of the capital stock and analyse the impact of corporate taxes on both pre- and post-tax profitability. Evidence from our large panel dataset of European subsidiaries supports the profit shifting hypothesis. We find that a 10 percentage point decrease in the tax rate increases post-tax profitability by up to 1.1 percentage points. Further, our results suggest that financial profits and losses are particularly responsive to taxes, which indicates that a large part of profit shifting takes places via debt shifting