Altering the Tax Mix in Alberta

The purpose of this paper is to examine alternative ways of raising government revenue in Alberta. There are several ways to approach this question. One would be to adopt a revenue neutral perspective, which would focus on the design and configuration of the tax system without a view to raising more revenue; a so-called revenue neutral perspective. Another would be to evaluate various options from the perspective of raising sufficient revenue to eliminate or reduce the deficit going forward, or more generally to close the fiscal gap, in order to put the government on a sustainable fiscal path. Neither of these approaches is followed here.   While the first approach is in some ways more pure from a tax policy perspective it is possible that at least a modest increase in revenues will be required to put the government on a sustainable fiscal path. Moreover, there are several moving parts to the revenue system, and it is very difficult in this context to accurately take account of the various interactions. In terms of the second approach, it is not clear precisely how much higher revenues should be relied upon versus lower spending to restore fiscal sustainability. As Trevor Tombe puts it in a recent analysis of the sustainability of Alberta’s fiscal policy, “the province has neither a revenue problem nor a spending problem; it has a budget problem.”[1] This problem can be addressed from the revenue side, the expenditure side or a combination of both. I don’t take a strong position on this.   Rather I examine some of the key sources of government revenue and evaluate various policy options that would alter the tax mix without imposing a hard constraint of revenue neutrality or the need to generate a given amount of revenue to close the fiscal gap. In some cases I argue for tax reductions and in others for tax increases. The focus is on “first principles”, drawing on what economic research on tax policy has to say about implementing an efficient and equitable tax system within an Alberta context. Of course, as will be discussed, this inevitably involves trade-offs and, also inevitably, some disagreement on the nature of those trade-offs.  The net impact on total revenue from the type of changes I discuss in what follows may be positive or negative, but the magnitude of the revenue gains can be scaled up or down by adjusting rates appropriately; the first-principles laid out here provide guidance on how best to go about that.   Based on my analysis, and as a preview of my conclusions, I argue the following:   Cut the corporate income tax rate as planned. Keep the full provincial carbon tax. Maintain the progressive rate structure in the personal income tax (no flat tax), but consider a “middle class” personal income tax cut. Impose a harmonized provincial sales tax.   While it is not the focus of the paper, I also argue for reintroducing systematic contributions of resource revenue to a stabilization fund, and eventually the Heritage Savings Trust Fund.   [1] Tombe (2018)

Center-to-Limb Variation of the Polarization of Mg II H & K Lines as Measured by CLASP2

Who cares? Magnetograms in the upper chromosphere are needed for accurate magnetic coronal extrapolations. The CLASP2 sounding rocket took spatially resolved spectropolarimetric data of Mg II h & k in the upper chromosphere, that can be used as a pathfinder to routine magnetograms. This work: Preliminary results of the center-to-limb variation (CLV) of the linear polarization in the quiet sun. We compare the signals to recent theoretical calculations of the expected polarization which include PRD, J-state interference, and magneto-optical effects

Tax Policy Forum: Review of Tax Expenditures, Budget 2016

In the 2016 budget the Department of Finance announced that it intended to review a number of tax expenditures with the objective of identifying and eliminating poorly targeted or inefficient tax measures. In this article, the authors discuss the concept and theory of tax expenditures and then debate the merits of some of the more significant tax expenditures with the objective of identifying those that might be considered poorly targeted or inefficient

The food choice at work study: effectiveness of complex workplace dietary interventions on dietary behaviours and diet-related disease risk - study protocol for a clustered controlled trial

Background: Dietary behaviour interventions have the potential to reduce diet-related disease. Ample opportunity exists to implement these interventions in the workplace. The overall aim is to assess the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of complex dietary interventions focused on environmental dietary modification alone or in combination with nutrition education in large manufacturing workplace settings. Methods/design: A clustered controlled trial involving four large multinational manufacturing workplaces in Cork will be conducted. The complex intervention design has been developed using the Medical Research Council's framework and the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidelines and will be reported using the TREND statement for the transparent reporting of evaluations with non-randomized designs. It will draw on a soft paternalistic 'nudge' theoretical perspective. It will draw on a soft paternalistic "nudge" theoretical perspective. Nutrition education will include three elements: group presentations, individual nutrition consultations and detailed nutrition information. Environmental dietary modification will consist of five elements: (a) restriction of fat, saturated fat, sugar and salt, (b) increase in fibre, fruit and vegetables, (c) price discounts for whole fresh fruit, (d) strategic positioning of healthier alternatives and (e) portion size control. No intervention will be offered in workplace A (control). Workplace B will receive nutrition education. Workplace C will receive nutrition education and environmental dietary modification. Workplace D will receive environmental dietary modification alone. A total of 448 participants aged 18 to 64 years will be selected randomly. All permanent, full-time employees, purchasing at least one main meal in the workplace daily, will be eligible. Changes in dietary behaviours, nutrition knowledge, health status with measurements obtained at baseline and at intervals of 3 to 4 months, 7 to 9 months and 13 to 16 months will be recorded. A process evaluation and cost-effectiveness economic evaluation will be undertaken. Discussion: A 'Food Choice at Work' toolbox (concise teaching kit to replicate the intervention) will be developed to inform and guide future researchers, workplace stakeholders, policy makers and the food industry. Trial registration: Current Controlled Trials, ISRCTN35108237

Selective Loss of Wild-Type p16INK4a Expression in Human Nevi

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Peeking beneath the precision floor -- II. Probing the chemo-dynamical histories of the potential globular cluster siblings, NGC 288 and NGC 362

The assembly history of the Milky Way (MW) is a rapidly evolving subject, with numerous small accretion events and at least one major merger proposed in the MW's history. Accreted alongside these dwarf galaxies are globular clusters (GCs), which act as spatially coherent remnants of these past events. Using high precision differential abundance measurements from our recently published study, we investigate the likelihood that the MW clusters NGC 362 and NGC 288 are galactic siblings, accreted as part of the Gaia-Sausage-Enceladus (GSE) merger. To do this, we compare the two GCs at the 0.01 dex level for 20+ elements for the first time. Strong similarities are found, with the two showing chemical similarity on the same order as those seen between the three LMC GCs, NGC 1786, NGC 2210 and NGC 2257. However, when comparing GC abundances directly to GSE stars, marked differences are observed. NGC 362 shows good agreement with GSE stars in the ratio of Eu to Mg and Si, as well as a clear dominance in the r- compared to the s-process, while NGC 288 exhibits only a slight r-process dominance. When fitting the two GC abundances with a GSE-like galactic chemical evolution model, NGC 362 shows agreement with both the model predictions and GSE abundance ratios (considering Si, Ni, Ba and Eu) at the same metallicity. This is not the case for NGC 288. We propose that the two are either not galactic siblings, or GSE was chemically inhomogeneous enough to birth two similar, but not identical clusters with distinct chemistry relative to constituent stars.Comment: Second paper in a series. Accepted for publication by MNRAS, 17 pages, 11 figure

Evidence for the Operation of the Hanle and Magneto-Optical Effects in the Scattering Polarization Signals Observed by CLASP2 Across the Mg II h and k Lines

Radiative transfer investigations of the solar Mg II h and k resonance lines around 280~nm showed that, while their circular polarization (Stokes V) signals arise from the Zeeman effect, the linear polarization profiles (Stokes Q and U) are dominated by the scattering of anisotropic radiation and the Hanle and magneto-optical (MO) effects. Using the unprecedented observations of the Mg II and Mn I resonance lines obtained by the Chromospheric LAyer Spectro-Polarimeter (CLASP2), here we investigate how the linear polarization signals at different wavelengths (i.e., at the center, and at the near and far wings of the k line) vary with the longitudinal component of the magnetic field ($B_{L}$) at their approximate height of formation. The $B_{L}$ is estimated from the V signals in the aforementioned spectral lines. Particular attention is given to the following quantities that are expected to be influenced by the presence of magnetic fields through the Hanle and MO effects: the sign of the U signals, the total linear polarization amplitude ($LP$) and its direction ($\chi$) with respect to a reference direction. We find that at the center and near wings of the $k$ line, the behavior of these quantities is significantly different in the observed quiet and plage regions, and that both $LP$ and $\chi$ seem to depend on $B_{L}$. These observational results are indicative of the operation of the Hanle effectComment: 26 pages, 18 figures, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa

Tomography of a solar plage with the Tenerife Inversion Code

We apply the Tenerife Inversion Code (TIC) to the plage spectropolarimetric observations obtained by the Chromospheric LAyer SpectroPolarimeter (CLASP2). These unprecedented data consist of full Stokes profiles in the spectral region around the Mg II h and k lines for a single slit position, with around two thirds of the 200 arcsec slit crossing a plage region and the rest crossing an enhanced network. A former analysis of these data had allowed us to infer the longitudinal component of the magnetic field by applying the weak field approximation (WFA) to the circular polarization profiles, and to assign the inferred magnetic fields to different layers of the solar atmosphere based on the results of previous theoretical radiative transfer investigations. In this work, we apply the recently developed TIC to the same data. We obtain the stratified model atmosphere that fits the intensity and circular polarization profiles at each position along the spectrograph slit and we compare our results for the longitudinal component of the magnetic field with the previously obtained WFA results, highlighting the generally good agreement in spite of the fact that the WFA is known to produce an underestimation when applied to the outer lobes of the Mg II h and k circular polarization profiles. Finally, we use the inverted model atmospheres to give a rough estimation of the energy that could be carried by Alfv\`en waves propagating along the chromosphere in the plage and network regions, showing that it is sufficient to compensate the estimated energy losses in the chromosphere of solar active regions.Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journa

Novel miRNA-based drug CD5-2 reduces liver tumor growth in diethylnitrosamine-treated mice by normalizing tumor vasculature and altering immune infiltrate

IntroductionLiver cancers exhibit abnormal (leaky) vasculature, hypoxia and an immunosuppressive microenvironment. Normalization of tumor vasculature is an emerging approach to treat many cancers. Blockmir CD5-2 is a novel oligonucleotide-based inhibitor of the miR-27a interaction with VE-Cadherin, the endothelial-specific cadherin. The combination of a vasoactive medication with inhibition of immune checkpoints such as programmed cell death protein 1 (PD1) has been shown to be effective in treating liver cancer in humans. We aimed to study the effect of CD5-2 combined with checkpoint inhibition (using an antibody against PD1) on liver tumor growth, vasculature and immune infiltrate in the diethylnitrosamine (DEN)-induced liver tumor mouse model.MethodsWe first analyzed human miR-27a and VE-Cadherin expression data from The Cancer Genome Atlas for hepatocellular carcinoma. CD5-2 and/or anti-PD1 antibody were given to the DEN-treated mice from age 7-months until harvest at age 9-months. Tumor and non-tumor liver tissues were analyzed using histology, immunohistochemistry, immunofluorescence and scanning electron microscopy.ResultsHuman data showed high miR-27a and low VE-Cadherin were both significantly associated with poorer prognosis. Mice treated with CD5-2 plus anti-PD1 antibody had significantly smaller liver tumors (50% reduction) compared to mice treated with either agent alone, controls, or untreated mice. There was no difference in tumor number. Histologically, tumors in CD5-2-treated mice had less leaky vessels with higher VE-Cadherin expression and less tumor hypoxia compared to non-CD5-2-treated mice. Only tumors in the combination CD5-2 plus anti-PD1 antibody group exhibited a more favorable immune infiltrate (significantly higher CD3+ and CD8+ T cells and lower Ly6G+ neutrophils) compared to tumors from other groups.DiscussionCD5-2 normalized tumor vasculature and reduced hypoxia in DEN-induced liver tumors. CD5-2 plus anti-PD1 antibody reduced liver tumor size possibly by altering the immune infiltrate to a more immunosupportive one