This study examines the money management behaviour of a sample of older people most of whom have retired from a professional or managerial occupation and are now enjoying a financially comfortable 'Third Age'. By carefully managing their money throughout their life course and taking advantage of continuous well rewarded employment they have steadily increased their residual wealth which they are using to sustain middle class living standards in retirement. The sample of 48 individuals from 40 households in the south of England was divided into three cohorts born before, during and after the Second World War. Using in depth qualitative interviews they were asked about their approach to money management in retirement and throughout their life course. The study found that all three cohorts, which included respondents born in the 1930s as well as those in the first baby boom years of the late 1940s, demonstrated very similar behaviour in their approach to consumption and wealth acquisition in retirement. Despite the austerity and rationing of their early life course as well as the class influence of their family of origin, all respondents had become debt free householders. Most had direct benefit, DB, pension incomes which had been paid for over 40 years of continuous compulsory contributions. They rejected the use of credit and conspicuous consumption but were meticulous in seeking the highest quality at the lowest price in their choice of consumer goods. All owned mortgage free homes and had acquired and retained their wealth through continuous saving and careful money management. They generally tended to share their wealth with their adult children, particularly for help with house purchase, but were aware that their house and savings could be taken from them in later life to pay long term care costs. This study of current 'Third Age' retirees contrasted strongly with the image of 'carefree' consumers spending their children's inheritance, as portrayed by some commentators and particularly the popular press.

This research investigates the influence of personal taxes on the valuation of dividends in the UK. Hitherto most empirical studies on personal taxes and dividends have used US data with conflicting and inconclusive results. UK data has more potential for illuminating the issue because the UK has had several substantial reforms in tax policy. The empirical models tested by this study are derived from a well-defined theoretical version of the capital asset pricing model incorporating personal taxes. The research also attempts to overcome some of the difficulties encountered in constructing a well-specified econometric model: finding a correct measure of expected dividend yield for individual securities; biases due to heteroscedasticity; measurement error; and information effects. Methods of instrumental variables and generalized least squares are used to deal with some of the estimation problems. This study reports affirmative evidence that taxes significantly affect the equilibrium relationship between returns and dividend yields.

Long term changes in capital gains tax affect the investment preferences of venture capital companies over time. This is an acceptance of the working hypothesis and answers the basic research question, which is: Do Longitudinal Changes In The Capital Gains Tax Effect The Investment Preferences Of Venture Capital Companies? The literature review was delimited by time and terminology, and orbited about the theoretical foundation of the thesis. The secondary data displayed unusual depth and richness yet was subject to rapid obsolescence and political polarization due to the topical and controversial nature of capital gains tax. The methodological inquiry protocol was positivist and deductive in practice, using vetted and static survey instruments with which strict ethical standards were maintained. Nonparametric tools were employed given the quantitative and categorical nature of the data, and the null hypothesis was rejected. Findings were triangulated via the primary and secondary data. The secondary data proved helpful but inconclusive, as did the minor phenomenology inputs. Reliance on primary data was key to the outcome. This thesis concludes that statistical significance exists between capital gains tax and the investment preferences of venture capital companies over time in the United States. This does not mean there is an association in the form of a correlation or a causal relationship. The work contributes to scholarly endeavour and to date is unique in its longitudinal posture. Future research should build upon the thesis findings to update and refine the longitudinal interaction between the variables in question.

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No description available.

Tax evasion represents one of the major problems facing transition and developing economies. It imposes several economic costs: it slows down economic growth; it diverts resources to unproductive activities; it provides an incentive for firms to remain small and invisible; and it generates inequity between the evaders and the honest taxpayers. The aim of this thesis is to investigate the determinants of business tax evasion for transition economies. We do so by adapting the individual theory to the case of businesses; that is by assuming that the behaviour of businesses is similar to the behaviour of individuals, and that the determinants of business tax evasion may be similar, at least qualitatively, to the determinants of tax evasion by individuals or households. More specifically, beyond theoretical and empirical review of the tax evasion literature, this thesis provides three related empirical investigations: a panel investigation of tax evasion at the country level; a pooled-cross section investigation of firm-level behaviour across the transition economies and a cross-section investigation of business tax evasion and tax morale in Kosovo. For the firm-level investigation we use the BEEPS data for the years 1999, 2002 and 2005; and, for the investigation of business tax evasion in Kosovo, we generate primary data by developing a questionnaire and conducting a survey of businesses in Kosovo. Our econometric findings suggest that, first, regardless of the theoretical and previous empirical ambiguity, when it comes to transition economies the relationship between tax rate and tax evasion is positive; second, the macroeconomic environment has only minor effects on business tax evasion, suggesting that the decision to evade or not must depend on other non-economic factors; third, even if a country is performing well in general economic terms, the presence of negative institutional phenomena exert a dominant and immediate influence on the relationship between businesses and government; fourth, business tax morale, as is the case with individuals, has a strong and negative relationship with tax evasion; fifth, moreover, given that the same considerations on morality apply to both individuals and businesses, policies in the individual context apply also to businesses; sixth, lower corruption, higher trust and better treatment of business taxpayers improves significantly both tax morale and tax compliance; and, seventh, because levels of tax evasion vary across firm characteristics, audit strategies should be set accordingly. Finally this thesis provides a set of corresponding policy recommendations intended to reduce either the possibility and/or the inclination to evade.

The thesis examines the international taxation rules of the Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base (CCCTB) and their interaction with third-country corporate tax practice. The aim is to assess the effectiveness of the CCCTB vis-à-vis third countries, with Egypt as a practical example. The CCCTB has the potential to reduce corporate tax obstacles faced by businesses in the EU in having to comply with up to twenty seven different domestic systems for determining their taxable profits. However, the international taxation rules of the CCCTB system are likely to have an impact on the corporate tax practice in third countries, and may conflict with existing bilateral tax treaties concluded between CCCTB-Member States and third countries. The discussion presents a detailed analysis of the CCCTB’s unilateral framework for the avoidance of double taxation and for the protection of the common consolidated tax base. It reveals that, by means of ordinary credit and exemption methods provided in the CCCTB Directive, international double taxation will be eliminated in relation to third countries. Furthermore, the CCCTB’s anti-abuse rules are effective in protecting the common tax base and in eliminating non-double taxation. Nevertheless, the unilateral measures are in conflict with a number of important provisions of bilateral tax treaties, based on the OECD Model, concluded between the potential CCCTB-Member States and third countries. Egypt exemplifies this – but the problem is generic. These conflicts between the CCCTB and OECD Model bilateral treaties are detrimental to the effective functioning of the CCCTB system vis-à-vis third countries, and need to be redressed. This thesis suggests a simple and practical solution - replacement of the bilateral tax treaties between CCCTB-Member States and third countries with a multilateral tax treaty to be concluded between every third country and all CCCTB-Member States.

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This thesis examines the concept of EU corporate tax abuse in light of the tensions between the protection of EU Fundamental rights and the susceptibility of those rights to abuse. Consideration is given to the major tax abuse practices and arrangements, accompanied by analyses of the responses of a selection of EU member states, and the role and impacts of judicial, state and commercial stakeholder interests. Consequent upon an examination of why past proposals have failed to attain either policy adoption or policy success, it is suggested that the legal concepts of abuse of rights, substance over form and proportionality may be of value in assessing and validating a corporate tax abuse proposal. It will be argued that Member State tax rules and policy initiatives to date have been unsuccessful in eradicating the effects of corporate tax abuse deriving from the exploitation of Fundamental Freedoms and that this failure is attributable to reasons of poor transactional data lineage and disclosure, unresolved political and judicial conflicts between balancing Member State rights with the Internal Market ideal and from a corporate culture that is incentivised to circumvent tax rules with limited recourse. Following an assessment of whether reform should focus on transactional based tax rules or on a broader legal framework to induce taxpayer behavioural changes, it is contended that EU corporate tax abuse can be addressed by rejecting the traditional ideals of tax harmonisation, formulary apportionment, and principles or rule-based tax law approaches as a complete solution. An effective scheme of reform should instead be based on Enhanced Disclosures and Attestation incorporating country-by-country reporting, additional reporting metrics and legal attestations, underpinned by civil and criminal penalties.

This thesis examines the case for a wealth transfer tax in Thailand, against the background, inter alia, of the failure of Thailand’s defunct tax law on estate and inheritance (the Estate and Inheritance Tax Act, 1933). Thailand has a significant problem with income and wealth distribution, with an increasing gulf between the rich and the poor—a root cause of the nation’s ongoing political conflicts. Such substantial economic inequality is partly caused by imbalances and inequalities in the Thai taxation system, and it will be argued that the tax system requires restructuring through the introduction of the wealth transfer tax. This would be a significant tax policy initiative that may assist in tackling a root cause of Thailand’s political and economic crises. In addressing the above issues, this thesis examines aspects of the US federal estate and gift taxes and the UK inheritance tax systems. Comparisons between the criteria, rules and concepts in the US and UK systems reveal that Thailand should not simply import wholesale the approach of either country. Both systems have commendable features that may, when combined, help address the causes of the failure of the Thai Estate and Inheritance Tax Act of 1933. It will be argued that a wealth transfer tax should be introduced in Thailand, in the form of a transferor-based system, which incorporates selected criteria, rules, and concepts arising from both the US and UK jurisdictions. In adopting the proposed reform, it is essential to consider Thailand’s political, economic, social and legal contexts, including Thailand’s current legislation relating to wealth transfers, as such laws will inform and partly shape the drafting of a prospective wealth transfer tax in Thailand.