Can state and local governments rely on alternative tax sources?

State governments are much more likely than their local counterparts to depend on taxes other than sales, property, and personal income taxes. Excises on alcohol, beer, tobacco, gambling, and business taxes are among the alternative taxes. Local governments, on the other hand, are more likely to impose user fees. Reliance on these alternative state tax sources in aggregate has diminished over the past several decades, despite a pattern of rate increases and new gambling alternatives. Competitive pressures between states and with the federal government are likely to continue limiting reliance on these alternatives. Further, the same competitive forces are reshaping state corporate taxes to operate more like taxes on consumption than the traditional focus on taxing corporate production. In addition, states are seeking to broaden the set of business taxpayers to include those exploiting the state’s market and noncorporate businesses.State finance ; Local finance

Fiscal federalism in Bosnia-Herzegovina : The Dayton challenge

The authors describe Bosnia's current arrangements in fiscal federalism, outline the unique challenges that the Dayton system proposed, and draw lessons for the design of fiscal federal systems in ethnically diverse economies. Traditional economic models of federalism suggest a government structure assuming there is an intent to achieve Pareto-efficiency for the entire country. Current attitudes in Bosnia challenge this paradigm's aptness unmodified, since many people in each ethnic group see themselves as members of their group, rather than as Bosnians, and are not broadly concerned about the entire country's welfare or access to public services outside the group. The motivation for the fiscal federalism structure proposed in the Dayton Accords is better interpreted as an effort to manage conflict between the ethnic groups. Federalism, in a conflict management sense, does not require that each group be given its own state; rather it leads to the conclusion that institutions of power should be brought closer to the people so that decisionmaking can be more sensitive to the different ethnic groups. Decentralization in this context is a means to lessen the points where disagreement exists, rather than a structure to obtain economic efficiency. Common institutions at the state, entity or canton levels are maintained, but only for functions that must be broader in scope. The fiscal (and other) interdependencies flowing from these institutions present opportunities to build relationships and trust over time. While the government structure included in Dayton is workable, governments must negotiate other arrangements to prevent, in the short to medium term, diseconomies of scale in providing certain services that are more cost-efficient at other levels. In the latter scenario, services with geographic spillovers would be underprovided because governments would fail to adequately account for benefits received by other ethnic group members. Further, little concern would be given to equitable distribution of services, resulting in widely different access across the country. Better service delivery mechanisms -from a national, Pareto-efficient perspective- will not be selected given the very strong distaste for cross subsidies and minority group fears of larger group domination. Despite these concerns, the authors conclude that more efficient arrangements can be expected to evolve over time as confidence in the government structures evolve.Public Sector Economics&Finance,Municipal Financial Management,National Governance,Banks&Banking Reform,Environmental Economics&Policies,National Governance,Public Sector Economics&Finance,Banks&Banking Reform,Environmental Economics&Policies,Municipal Financial Management

Influence of Water Depth on the Rate of Expansion of Giant Cutgrass Populations and Management Implications

Giant cutgrass ( Zizaniopsis miliacea (Michx.) Doell. & Asch.), a tall emergent grass native to the southeastern United States, was studied in Lake Seminole where it formed large expanding stands, and Lake Alice where it was confined to a stable narrow fringe

A Fresh Look at the VAT

The purpose of this paper is to identify and examine some of the key VAT policy issues that have arisen in the implementation of the tax. Specifically, the paper examines four issues as examples of the specific inefficiencies that arise in actual practice with VATs. The first section examines the effect of registration thresholds, normally allowed to lessen administrative burdens, as an example of structural inefficiencies. The second section examines the tariff effects arising from administration of the VAT at border. The third section considers application of the VAT on financial services as an example of exemptions from the tax. Finally, the problem of distributing the revenues of a destination VAT levied at the subnational level is discussed.Working Paper Number 04-38

Investing in rural infrastructure

Rural areas ; Rural development

The Impact of Chronic Liver Diseases on the Level of Heart-Type Fatty Acid-Binding Protein (H-FABP) Concentrations

Objectives: Heart-type fatty acid binding-protein (H-FABP) has been reported to be a potential novel biochemical marker for the early diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction (AMI). The presence of H-FABP in the liver has not been reported. The aim of this study was to compare the effect of chronic liver diseases on the level of H-FABP concentrations. Methods: The effects of chronic liver diseases including infective hepatitis and cirrhosis on the concentration of H-FABP was studied in a small group of patients (n=10, mean age ±SD = 58.33 ± 7.19 years). The serum concentrations of the following markers were measured: H-FABP, alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and bilirubin and compared with a reference control group (20 healthy blood donors, mean age ±SD = 63.8 ±8.01). Results: The serum concentrations of these markers in the control group as compared to patients with chronic liver disease were as follows (mean ± SD): H-FABP = 6.86 ±2.21 µg/L versus 6.44 ±3.06 µg/L (p = NS); ALT = 29.8 ±14.7 U/L versus ALT = 198.67 ±122.89 U/L (p < 0.0005) and bilirubin = 9.6 ±4.0 µmol/L versus bilirubin = 100.89 ±87.85 µmol/L (p < 0.0001). Conclusion: These data illustrate clearly that there is no significant interference with the normal concentration of H-FABP in the presence of liver diseases, despite the significant elevation of liver enzymes and proteins. These data may support a useful role of H-FABP for the diagnosis of myocardial injury in patients with liver diseases

Abortions at Sea: In Search of Creative Reproductive Healthcare Solutions Post-Dobbs

Following the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs, access to reproductive healthcare and the right to abortion have been severely restricted across the United States. Indeed, within days of the decision, multiple states implemented trigger laws criminalizing abortion (in some cases without exceptions for instances of rape or incest) to the detriment of millions women across the country. This infringement on a woman\u27s right to choose her own healthcare needs has profoundly impacted women living in conservative-led states, particularly minorities and those in the American South. This post was originally published on the Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights and Social Justice website on March 13, 2023. The original post can be accessed via the Archived Link button above

Study Guide Mathematical Modeling for Decision Making II DA 3410

The mission of the U.S. Army Special Operations Command is to organize, train, educate, man, equip, fund, administer, mobilize, deploy and sustain Army special operations forces to successfully conduct worldwide special operations, across the range of military operations, in support of regional combatant commanders, American ambassadors and other agencies as directed