The Incidence of the Local Property Tax: A Re-evaluation

The article identifies the key assumptions that underlie competing theories of the incidence of the local property tax. We conclude that the"benefit view" which maintains that the property tax system is equivalent to a set of non-distortionary user changes is correct only under very restrictive assumptions. Only when communities adopt a set of exact, binding zoning requirements will a distortionary tax be transformed into a lump-sum tax. We argue that within jurisdiction heterogeneity of house and firm typeis very unlikely and that the burden of a property tax that is distortionary at the margin falls on the owners of capital.

The New View of the Property Tax: A Reformulation

The"new view" of the property tax is reformulated within the context of a model with interjurisdictional competition, endogenous local public services, individuals who are segregated into homogeneous communities according to tastes for local public services, a simple form of land use zoning, and a political or constitutional constraint on the use of head taxes by local governments. Expressions for the "profits tax" and"excise tax" effects of the property tax are derived. The effects of a "consumption distortion" away from government services due to local reluctance to tax mobile capital are also examined.

International Tax Competition and Tax Incentives in Developing Countries

Tax policy advisers often counsel the governments of developing countries against using investment incentives under their income taxes. A wide variety of arguments have been offered in support of this position. Investment tax incentives can be costly in revenue terms, generating relatively little new investment per dollar of revenue cost and requiring increases in other distortionary taxes; this is especially problematic if the incentives are general (untargeted), so that they benefit a great deal of inframarginal investments, including those that generate significant economic rents. Non-uniform investment incentives that apply only to certain types of capital assets or firms and thus only to certain business sectors may inefficiently distort the allocation of productive resources.Working Paper Number 04-40

Implementing direct consumption taxes in developing countries

This report examines the possibility of using a direct tax on consumption as a replacement for an existing income tax within the context of a developing country. The structural differences between income and consumption taxes are described, and some simple examples are used to illustrate the basic differences in the taxation of businesses and individuals under the two approaches. The report includesa brief survey of the extensive literature on the choice between income and consumption as the basis for a system of direct taxation. After a detailed discussion of the choice between cash flow and tax prepayment treatment at the individual level under a direct consumption tax, the analysis concludes that for simplicity reasons the individual tax prepayment approach is the more appropriate one in the developing country context. The report then describes the structure and implementation of such a direct consumption tax. The discussion includes an examination of international and transitional issues, and also comments on the desirability and feasibility of supplementary wealth taxes and taxation on a presumptive basis.Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Public Sector Economics&Finance,Banks&Banking Reform,International Terrorism&Counterterrorism

Impuestos a las Utilidades e Inversión EXtranjera Directa en Colombia

Colombia, como los demás países emergentes, enfrenta un ambiente económico internacional crecientemente competitivo, caracterizado por la mayor movilidad de capital tangible e intangible, de la fuerza laboral (especialmente la calificada) y por una vigorosa competencia en bienes y servicios transables. La mayor globalización implica que la interacción con las demás economías del mundo jugará un papel central en el crecimiento económico del país y en el ingreso futuro de los colombianos. Se analiza en este Capítulo el papel que juegan los impuestos en atraer la inversión extranjera directa (IED) hacia Colombia, uno de los múltiples aspectos de esa competencia internacional. Hoy día la competencia por capital móvil es un componente esencial del panorama fiscal en todos los países, especialmente en aquellos con alta dependencia de la inversión extranjera directa (IED). Solo se tendrá éxito si todas las políticas ?incluidas las impositivas1? conducen a atraer y retener las firmas multinacionales. Puesto que la evidencia internacional reciente sugiere que la IED ha tenido un impacto positivo sobre el crecimiento económico en América Latina,2 puede argumentarse que el sistema tributario debería minimizar los desincentivos a su ingreso. La política impositiva está lejos de ser el único factor que afecta las decisiones de inversión de las multinacionales, y por ello conviene discutir la influencia relativa de esos otros factores antes de entrar en materia. La literatura disponible sugiere que los impuestos no se encuentran entre los factores más importantes en la decisión de las multinacionales en materia de localización. Wheeler y Mody (1992), por ejemplo, construyen un modelo empírico sobre la localización y nivel de la IED y atribuyen el peso central a los costos laborales, el tamaño del mercado, la calidad de la infraestructura y las potenciales economías de aglomeración, factores todos ellos más importantes que los impuestos. Las conclusiones son relativamente similares para otros trabajos sobre América Latina (Shatz y Venables, 2000; Shatz, 2001; Esquivel y Larraín, 2001; Vial, 2001).

Tax Competition and the Efficiency of "Benefit-Related" Business Taxes

We consider a model in which business public services must be financed with either a source-based tax on mobile capital, such as a property tax, or a tax on production, such as an origin-based VAT and assess which of the two tax instruments is more efficient. In general, both a capital tax and a production tax are inefficient. However, the production tax is efficient if the production function belongs to the knife-edge case between log sub- and log supermodularity with respect to capital and public services (e.g., a Cobb-Douglas production function), while the capital tax results in underprovision of public services in this case. Similarly, if the production function is log submodular with respect to capital and public services (e.g., a CES production function with an elasticity of substitution greater than 1), a production tax is again less inefficient than a capital tax, although both taxes result in underprovision of the public service. Finally, if the production function is log supermodular (e.g., a CES production function with an elasticity of substitution smaller than 1), a production tax results in overprovision of the public service, while the e¤ects of a capital tax - and thus the relative efficiency properties of the two taxes - are theoretically ambiguous

Sterile foliage of fertile Sydneia manleyi and synangial chemistry (eusporangiate fern, Late Asturian, Canada): A new subfamily Sydneideae

Typification of Sydneia manleyi Psenicka et al. 2003 is based entirely on fertile foliage. Of late,attached sterile-fertile segments have been found which are illustrated and described, together with cuticular preparations. A new subfamily, Sydneideae subfam. nov. is erected for the monotypytic species. The synangial chemistry is compared with marattialean  synangia/sporangia from the Czech Republic and from Canada.Fil: Psenicka, Josef. West Bohemian Museum in Pilsen. Palaeontological Department; República ChecaFil: Zodrow, Erwin L.. Cape Breton Universit. Palaeobiology Laboratory; CanadáFil: D` Angelo, José Alejandro. Cape Breton Universit. Palaeobiology Laboratory; Canadá. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Científico Tecnológico Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales; Argentin

The ovary learns to ovulate

Sensory stimuli from the external environment (e.g. visual and olfactory stimuli, stress) or internal stimuli cause brain nerve fibres to release neurotransmitters (catecholamines, indolamines and cholinergic agents). These neurotransmitters regulate the secretion of gonadotrophin-releasing hormone (GnRH) from neurosecretory cells of the hypothalamus (Kamberi, 1975). It would seem that under the proper steroid environment, catecholamines (dopamine, norepinephrine or epinephrine) and the cholinergic agent acetylcholine exert a stimulatory influence, whereas indolamines (serotonin or its metabolic product, melatonin) have an opposite effect. In turn, GnRH reaches the anterior pituitary via the hypophyseal portal system, and, through the mediation of cAMP [though may be not as an obligatory intermediate (Naor et al., 1975)], controls gonadotrophin secretion (Labrie et al., 1974