Effects of local fiscal policy on firm profitability

For decades, scholars and policy-makers have been interested in how fiscal policy influences entrepreneurship. Until now, research has focused on fiscal policy at the federal or regional level and used macro-economic outcome measures. Considerably less attention was given to how municipal governments can influence economic outcomes at the micro level. The present study examines the effect of municipal taxes, spending and tax compliance costs on firm profitability within the Flemish hospitality industry. This is an interesting research setting, since Flemish municipalities have far-ranging fiscal autonomy which has resulted in a proliferation of local taxes, many of which are specific to the hospitality industry. The findings reveal that local taxes have a negative impact on firm profitability, while aggregate public spending has a positive influence. The tax effect is economically relevant and exceeds the public spending impact. Finally, we find no impact of compliance costs from local taxes

A survey of tax compliance costs of Flemish SMEs: magnitude and determinants

This study presents survey evidence on the magnitude and determinants of tax compliance costs in Flemish small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Data were obtained from an Internet questionnaire among members of a professional network of Flemish entrepreneurs, called VOKA. Analyzing a sample of 151 Flemish SMEs, we find that the tax compliance costs exceeding over 7% of gross added value are relatively high. Value-added tax, labor taxes, and corporate taxes are the main components of tax compliance costs. In addition, our evidence confirms the regressivity hypothesis, according to which smaller companies face relatively higher compliance costs. Furthermore, industry, age, and the proportion of blue-collar workers prove to be determining factors of relative compliance costs. Our study concludes by formulating a number of policy recommendations that might contribute to lower compliance costs

What do politicians think of the common consolidated corporate tax base? A Belgian case study

This paper analyzes the views of Belgian politicians on the Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base (CCCTB), an ambitious project to harmonize corporate taxation in the EU. Applying case study methodology, the results show that most politicians were proponents of this new tax system. During the discussions in several political institutions, the politicians referred to the macro-economic impact, the legal certainty and their party’s view to found their opinion. Besides several agreements, certain aspects of CCCTB like the optionality and the applied tax rate involved clear differences in view between left and right-wing politicians, which could hamper a political agreement on CCCTB

Effect of B Corp certification on short-term growth : European evidence

This paper investigates the effect of sustainability certification on the short-term growth rates of socially responsible companies. A changing business environment in which stakeholders became more sensitive to the sustainability practices of companies induced a growing popularity of hybrid firms, which use market-based approaches to pursue environmental and social goals. However, stakeholders do not take unsubstantiated claims about companies' sustainability efforts for granted, creating a potential economic role for independent certification organizations. In addition, the internal processes brought about by the external verification procedure could turn the social mission, which is often creating tension with financial goals, into a strategic advantage. B Lab is one such well-known and rapidly growing organization, granting so-called B Corp certificates across many countries around the world. This paper contributes to the hybrid firm literature by ascertaining the benefit of certification as measured by firm growth. Using a panel dataset of financial data of European firms that obtained B Corp certification between 2012 and 2018 and a quasi-experimental difference-in-difference research design, this paper empirically shows that B Corp certification positively impacts the turnover growth rates one year pre versus one year post certification. No significant effects on employee growth rates or total asset growth rates are found

Affiliation of local audit firms with Big4 auditors and capital structure : evidence from Indonesia

Purpose: This paper aims to investigate whether the choice for a Big4-affiliated local audit firm affects the capital structure of listed companies in Indonesia, a fast-growing emerging country that is characterized by high information asymmetry and low litigation risk. A unique characteristic of the Indonesian audit environment is that Big4 auditors can only enter the market indirectly through affiliation with a local audit firm. Design/methodology/approach: A sample of Indonesian listed companies between 2008 and 2015 is used to investigate this relation using ordinary least squares (OLS). To address the concern that the choice for Big4-affiliated auditors might reflect client characteristics, the authors also perform OLS on a matched sample, using both propensity-score and entropy-balance matching. Findings: Across all three samples, the authors document that companies audited by a Big4-affiliated local audit firm display lower debt ratios. The authors find no such effect for affiliation with second-tier audit firms. Surprisingly, they find that the negative effect of Big4 affiliation is increasing in client size. Research limitations/implications: This study provides evidence of the consequences of hiring Big4 auditors on the perceived information asymmetry by financial markets under extreme conditions: in an environment characterized by low litigation risk and where Big4 auditors can operate only indirectly through affiliation. Practical implications: The results of this study are of interest to policymakers, managers and financial stakeholders in emerging countries where external financing is important yet difficult to obtain because of severe information asymmetry. Hiring a Big4 auditor, even only through affiliation, might reduce perceived information asymmetry and increase the access to external equity financing. Originality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, this study is the first to provide evidence of the effect of Big4 auditors on their clients' capital structure when they can operate only indirectly through affiliation with a local auditor

Enhanced release of IgE-dependent early phase mediators from nasal polyp tissue

Background: The mast cell is a crucial effector cell in allergic rhinitis and other inflammatory diseases. During the acute allergic reaction preformed mediators such as histamine, but also de novo produced mediators such as leukotrienes (LTC4/D-4/E-4) and prostaglandins (PGD(2)) are released. Mast cells represent targets for therapeutic intervention, and thus a human ex-vivo model to stimulate mast cells taken from mucosal sites would be instrumental for drug intervention studies. We have aimed to activate mast cells within ex-vivo human nasal tissue by IgE/anti-IgE specific (epsilon chain specific) stimulations and in this respect to test the usability of nasal polyps versus inferior turbinates Methods: Biopsy samples were collected from patients with nasal polyps and inferior turbinates from patients who underwent sinus or septal surgery. Tissue fragments were primed with IgE 1 mu g/ml for 60 minutes and then stimulated for 30 minutes with tissue culture medium (negative control), anti-IgE 10 mu g/ml, anti-IgE 30 mu g/ml and ionomycin 10 mu M (positive control). Histamine, leukotrienes and PGD2 were measured in supernatants. To help provide an understanding of the extent of the response, the number of tryptase and Fc epsilon RI alpha positive cells was evaluated by means of immunohistochemistry and the Fc epsilon RI alpha-chain was measured by means of quantitative PCR in the nasal polyp and inferior turbinate tissues. Finally, the correlation between IgE concentrations in the nasal tissue and the release of mediators was analysed. Results: Stimulations with anti-IgE on IgE-primed nasal tissue fragments lead to a concentration-dependent release of histamine, leukotrienes and PGD(2). The release of these early phase mediators was significantly higher in nasal polyps compared to inferior turbinates, although tryptase, Fc epsilon RI alpha positive cells and Fc epsilon RI alpha-chain transcripts were equally present in both groups. No correlation was found between baseline concentrations of IgE, and the release of histamine, LTC4/LTD4/LTE4 and PGD2 after stimulation. Conclusion: This human nasal challenge model mimics the allergic early phase reaction. The release of histamine, cys-leukotrienes and PGD(2) was significantly higher in nasal polyps versus inferior turbinates, however, this observation could not be explained by differences in mast cell or Fc epsilon RI+ cell numbers

Breast cancer in Belgium: why are we the first in Europe?

peer reviewedBreast cancer incidence in Belgium is on the top of European countries, with 9.697 new cases in 2008 and 106/100.000 women/year. The explanation of this high incidence in our country is probably the accumulation of risk factors (many of them are linked to lifestyle), and the impact of screening and registration of cases. The relative impact of each of theses factors is less clear because we don't have powerful statistical studies. Belgium is slightly above the European mean for breast cancer mortality, with 19,4/100.000 women/year and an all stages 15-year survival of 75%. Breast cancers are responsible for around 3% of all-cause mortality in Belgian women. This article discusses the causes of this high Belgian incidence and of current decrease of incidence in western countries, and reviews known and less known risk factors of breast cancers, with a special focus on menopause hormonal treatments

Differential expression of the interleukin 5 receptor alpha isoforms in blood and tissue eosinophils of nasal polyp patients

Given the key role of interleukin-5 (IL-5) in eosinophil function, we investigated the regulated expression of the membrane-anchored (TM-IL-5R alpha) isoform, or a secreted (SOL IL-5R alpha) isoform, on both protein and transcript level in vitro and in vivo. A real-time PCR, FACS and ELISA were established to determine IL-5R alpha isoform expression in peripheral blood and nasal tissue from control subjects and nasal polyp (NP) patients with or without asthma. Human peripheral blood eosinophils were incubated with IL-5 and were analyzed for SOL-IL-5R alpha and TM-IL-5R alpha mRNA and protein levels in comparison with CD-69 expression. SOL-IL-5R alpha and TM-IL-5R alpha mRNA and protein expression was significantly increased in NP vs controls. In polyp tissue, SOL-IL-5R alpha expression correlated to disease severity and eosinophils counts, whereas TM-IL-5R alpha levels were inversely correlated to eosinophils counts and SOL-IL-5R alpha expression. FACS analysis revealed increased CD-69 and decreased TM-IL-5R alpha expression in NP tissue eosinophils vs blood eosinophils. Incubation of blood eosinophils with IL-5 caused up-regulation of CD-69 and down-regulation of TM-IL-5R alpha after 2 and 24 h. The expression of SOL-IL-5R alpha and TM-IL-5R alpha differs according to the eosinophil activation state and localization in the body (blood vs tissue) and may therefore be involved in the fine-tuning of the eosinophil homeostasis. Exposure of eosinophils to IL-5 reduces their responsiveness to IL-5 by regulated expression of the IL-5R alpha isoforms. Since, TM-IL-5R alpha is down-regulated and SOL-IL-5R alpha (antagonistic) is upregulated in NP tissue, our findings are important to understand the clinical trials with anti-IL-5 in humans

Quantitative Real Time Polymerase Chain Reaction for measurement of human Interleukin – 5 receptor alpha spliced isoforms mRNA

BACKGROUND: Expression of human Interleukin-5 receptor alpha (hIL-5Rα) is controlled by alternative splicing, which generates two different transcripts encoding a membrane-anchored and a soluble form of the receptor, respectively. Although the study of the expression and regulation of hIL-5Rα is of crucial importance in the field of immunological processing, methods and techniques until now described lack sufficient sensitivity for detection of small differences in the expression of these isoforms. The aim of this study was to develop a reliable and sensitive real-time quantitative PCR assay to analyse the expression level of each isoform. METHODS: For the quantitative real-time PCR assay, two standard curves specific for each splice variant were constructed. PCR amplifications were performed on CDNA from peripheral blood, eosinophilic chronic rhinosinusitis and normal nasal tissue using a common forward and two specific reverse primers, in combination with SYBR Green I as the detection format. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: We have developed an accurate and reliable assay for quantification of interleukin-5 receptor alpha mRNA isoforms over a broad dynamic range of input molecules. Importantly, excess of one isoform did not influence accurate quantification of the other isoform. Quantification of hIL-5Rα variants in human samples demonstrated an overexpression of both membrane-anchored and soluble encoding variants in eosinophilic chronic rhinosinusitis tissue and peripheral blood in patients with eosinophilic chronic rhinosinusitis compared to healthy subjects. The implementation of this assay will allow a better understanding of the regulatory mechanisms of the hIL-5Rα gene and hence its role in the pathogenesis of chronic inflammatory diseases