The Response of Firms to Eligibility Thresholds : Evidence from the Japanese Value-Added Tax

It is common to defi ne benefi t eligibility for small business policies by restrictions on the fi rm size. This paper investigates the incentives for a large fi rm to masquerade as many small fi rms by separately incorporating business segments, focusing on the case of the Japanese value-added tax. The paper fi nds that the masquerading was pervasive and took place quickly after the introduction of tax incentives. Tax avoidance caused 3.4 per cent of the overall revenue drain in 1990, thus reducing horizontal equity, but the effi ciency consequence would not have been severe. This study suggests that the masquerading by fi rms may be commonplace in other settings.Tax avoidance, Business group, Value-added tax, Firm size distribution

A tale of pork prices : evasion and attenuation of a Japanese tariff

This paper empirically examines the effectiveness of a safeguard tariff in the Japanese market for imported pork parts. The goals are, first, to consider a refinement to the traditional market-based method for evasion detection, and, second, to apply the method in a setting where evasion is suspected to be widespread. Utilising a within-pig variation in tariff burdens and the timing of safeguard invocations, I examine a panel of monthly wholesale prices on narrowly-defined pork products from 2001 through 2008. The results are consistent with a hypothesis that a widespread evasion nullified the safeguard tariff on pork, and are robust to a range of alternative explanations including the adjustment of profit margins by traders. Safeguard tariffs appear to be a simple mechanism, but behavioural responses can undo the policy intent.safeguard tariff, price disparity, tax incidence

Tax Law Asymmetries and Income Shifting : Evidence From Japanese Capital Keiretsu

When positive and negative income are treated asymmetrically under a corporate income tax (CIT) without allowance for group taxation, a group of affi liated corporations may engage in tax avoidance by shifting income from profi table to unprofi table subsidiaries for the sole purpose of minimising the sum of tax liabilities of the group members. The aim of this paper is to offer systematic evidence on the behavioural response to a tax penalty that arises from doing business in multiple entities, in order to provide justifi cation for group tax systems such as consolidated fi ling and loss transfer. The setting for our investigation is the Japanese CIT before the introduction of a group tax system. We develop a theoretical model of a corporate group that predicts a difference in profi t reporting behaviour between subsidiaries above and below 100 million yen in paid-in capital due to the progressive feature of the Japanese CIT. We test the implications of the model with a company-level data on subsidiaries based on survey that covers over 1,700 corporate groups headed by large corporations. The sample consists of 33,340 subsidiary-time pairs from 1988, 1990, and 1992. We fi nd evidence consistent with a hypothesis that corporate groups shift income among group members. The fi nding underscores the importance of accounting for the group behaviour in the design of CIT.

The Response of Firms to Eligibility Thresholds: Evidence from the Japanese Value-Added Tax

It is common to define benefit eligibility for small business policies by restrictions on the firm size. This paper documents the effects of the value-added tax (VAT) threshold in Japan, focusing on the incentives for a large firm to "masquerade" as man

A tale of pork prices: evasion and attenuation of a Japanese tariff

This report was commisioned by ANU Australia-Japan Research Centr

Estimating the effects of procrastination on performance: A small sample study

Previous studies have found student procrastination to compromise learning outcomes using initial test scores to control for the influence of unobserved ability. The validity of such analysis rests on the assumption that students do not react to initial test scores. Utilizing daily information on student behavior, this paper shows that feedback effects were negligible in a student sample from a university second-language course. The paper then objectively quantifies the degree of procrastination, and finds evidence for detrimental effects of procrastination on test scores, corroborating previous studies. The result lends confidence to the value-added specification of the education production function

The Response of Firms to Eligibility Thresholds: Evidence from the Japanese Value-Added Tax

It is common to define benefit eligibility for small business policies by restrictions on the fi rm size. This paper investigates the incentives for a large fi rm to masquerade as many small firms by separately incorporating business segments, focusing on the case of the Japanese value-added tax. The paper fi nds that the masquerading was pervasive and took place quickly after the introduction of tax incentives. Tax avoidance caused 3.4 per cent of the overall revenue drain in 1990, thus reducing horizontal equity, but the effi ciency consequence would not have been severe. This study suggests that the masquerading by firms may be commonplace in other settings.