Estate tax should be abolished. Most pertinently, it is one of the most inefficient taxes in the United States federal tax system. The amount of revenue it takes in is actually offset by the actual costs of collecting the tax itself. From a purely economic standpoint, the estate tax should be abolished and revenue should be made from increasing rates on other taxable sources. While it does seem fair to tax simply on transfers of wealth, which typically impacts more the beneficiary than the decedent, it is simply not an efficient way to gather revenue. The tax benefit for charitable donations is good for society as a whole and helps redistribute wealth, but this incentive is present in the federal income tax system and can be increased to make up for the loss from abolishing the estate tax.

The submitted diploma thesis deals with the tax authority of municipalities in the area of the real estate tax. The aim of the thesis is to find out the measure of using real estate tax coefficients by the individual size of municipalities and then analyse reasons for their using or wasting. The analysis of using real estate tax coefficients and reasons of their using or wasting was performed in two regions, Jihočeský and Ústecký. The data was collected by questionnaires on the chosen sample of municipalities in the individual size of municipalities. The secondary data was collected from statistic published by the General financial headquarters. The gained data shows that some of real estate tax coefficients are used by 52 % of municipalities. However, more municipalities using the possibility of putting coefficients in place are located in Ústecký region. The least coefficients are used by municipalities in the size of ones up to 2 000 inhabitants, which are from all the groups the most influenced by the opinions of inhabitants.

My dissertation consists of three essays focused on identifying the strategic responses of governments and individuals following changes in the tax and transfer system. Two essays contribute to the literature on fiscal competition, focusing on state level polices aimed at redistributing income. A third essay contributes to the literature estimating the responsiveness of individual’s incomes to changing marginal tax rates. A better understanding of these responses contributes to our ability to design an optimal tax and transfer system in a federalist nation. In essay 1 I employ a spatial dynamic approach to investigate interstate welfare competition across multiple policy instruments and across three distinct welfare periods - the AFDC regime, the experimental waiver period leading up to the reform, and the TANF era. Results suggest the strategic setting of welfare policy occurs over multiple dimensions of welfare including the effective benefit level and the effective tax rate applied to recipient's earned income. Furthermore, strategic behavior appears to have increased over time, a finding consistent with a race to the bottom after welfare reform. Another form of interstate competition examined in Essay 3 is the spatial patterns in state level estate tax policy. My examination follows a major reform which greatly altered both the state and federal estate tax landscape. This study develops a model in which a state’s tax base and rate are simultaneously determined. Results indicate a state’s estate tax base is negatively influenced by its own tax rate and positively influenced by the tax rate set in neighboring jurisdictions. A state’s own tax rate is also found to be positively influenced by the tax rates set in neighboring jurisdictions. Last, Essay 2 uses matched panels from the Current Population Survey for survey years 1980-2009 to estimate the elasticity of taxable income (ETI) and how it varies in response to measurement of the tax rate, heterogeneity across education attainment, selection on observables and unobservable, and identification. Substantial variation in the ETI across all key economic and statistical decisions is found.

I Sverige används värdeområden för att fånga de variabler som påverkar värdet av ekonomibyggnader beroende av var de är belägna. Taxeringsvärdet är kopplat till marknadsvärdet. När värdeområden skapas sker en massvärdering som kan baseras på hedoniska värderingsmodeller vilket innebär att marknadsvärdet är en funktion av många olika variabler. Idag används sällan ekonomibyggnader i aktiva lantbruk då många lantbruk har lagt ner sin verksamhet under de senaste årtiondena. Detta leder till att marknadsvärdet för ekonomibyggnader inte längre påverkas av samma variabler som de en gång gjorde.   Målet med arbetet är därför att utreda aktualiteten av dagens värdeområdesindelning för ekonomibyggnader som inte används i lantbruk och att utreda hur dessa ekonomibyggnader bör taxeras. Studien utreder hur marknadsvärdet för ekonomibyggnader ska uppskattas vid taxering och vilken användning ekonomibyggnader har idag. Studien ger även svar på hur marknadsvärdet för ekonomibyggnader påverkas av var de är belägna.   Intervjuer har genomförts med sakkunniga inom området för att kartlägga användningen av ekonomibyggnader idag och hur marknadsvärdet för ekonomibyggnader varierar i olika delar av Sverige i relation till orterna de är belägna vid. En studie genomfördes även för att göra en jämförelse mellan marknadsvärden för ekonomibyggnader och industrier.   Resultatet av studien visar att marknadsvärdet för ekonomibyggnader påverkas av närheten till städer och ”hot spots” för lokala marknader. Där det finns tillgång till kommunikationsleder är avstånden från marknadens centrum till den gräns där marknadsvärdet börjar falla längre. Ekonomibyggnader används ofta som lager, som uthyrningsstall eller till handel.   Slutsatsen är att värdeområden för ekonomibyggnader kan inspireras av pristrenden för industrier utanför städer och att avkastningsmetoden bör användas vid värdering av ekonomibyggnader inför taxering. För varje enskild ort måste dock sakkunniga tillfrågas hur förhållandena ser ut i deras verksamhetsområde, då lokala marknader kan finnas. / <p>Presentationen är redan genomförd.</p>

Real estate taxation Abstract The aim of the diploma thesis is to introduce in detail Act No. 338/1992 Coll., On Real Estate Tax, as amended. The structure of the chapters is usually divided as well as the real estate tax itself on land tax and building and unit tax. A detailed analysis of individual tax elements and an examination of possible de lege ferenda proposals for potencial changes that could be made in the Czech real property tax law are provided. The thesis consists of 8 chapters. In the introductory chapters, the thesis deals with the general characteristics of taxes, the various constructional elements of the tax and the changes made by the recodification of private law, which influenced more than just the title of the real estate tax. The main content of the thesis is in Chapter 3, which gives insight into the theme by giving a detailed introduction of the various elements of the tax. The object of the tax, subject of the tax, tax basis and tax rate are presented. Chapters 4 to 7 deal in detail with tax exemption, tax rate issues, tax administration, and the comparison of the revenue from real estate tax and the revenue from the real estate acquisition tax. Both of these taxes relate to real estates and belong to the category of property taxes. The thesis also deals with a description of the...

<p> <p> </p></p><p> </p><p>Did the mass media report in a different way about the real estate tax before the Swedish national election 2006 than they did after the election? If there were differences, what could be the cause?</p><p>This study aims to answer these questions by using a quantitative analysis of articles about the real estate tax published in the Dagens Nyheter (DN), the biggest morning daily.</p><p> </p><p>The summer before the election, the ‘Alliance’, (the non-socialist coalition, launched an election promise to abolish the real estate tax. Instead they planned to introduce a low community charge.The Alliance won the election and formed a government to implement their election promise.</p><p> </p><p>The analysis was made on all the published articles in DN that covered the real estate tax issue. In total there were 43 such articles. These where all published between the launch of the campaign promise until the electionday and a month before the proposal was launched 19/9 2007, until the proposal was implemented in 2008.</p><p> </p><p>The study results in three interesting conclusions. After the election, when the election promise was about to become political reality, DN reported more negatively about this specific issue. The genre of the articles varied heavily before and after the election. Before the election more news articles where published than after the election and the letters-to-the-editor about the real estate tax were published almost only before the election. This study also treats the intresting phenomenon that the Alliance, before the election, had the power to define their election promise but after the election they seem to have lost this power and instead the real estate tax question was defined by the media. The Alliance claimed that they would  ”abolish the real estate tax and introduce a low community charge” and DN used this definition in their newspaper. After the election, DN reported about the election as a new real estate tax, which is a very different thing.</p>

Did the mass media report in a different way about the real estate tax before the Swedish national election 2006 than they did after the election? If there were differences, what could be the cause? This study aims to answer these questions by using a quantitative analysis of articles about the real estate tax published in the Dagens Nyheter (DN), the biggest morning daily.   The summer before the election, the ‘Alliance’, (the non-socialist coalition, launched an election promise to abolish the real estate tax. Instead they planned to introduce a low community charge.The Alliance won the election and formed a government to implement their election promise.   The analysis was made on all the published articles in DN that covered the real estate tax issue. In total there were 43 such articles. These where all published between the launch of the campaign promise until the electionday and a month before the proposal was launched 19/9 2007, until the proposal was implemented in 2008.   The study results in three interesting conclusions. After the election, when the election promise was about to become political reality, DN reported more negatively about this specific issue. The genre of the articles varied heavily before and after the election. Before the election more news articles where published than after the election and the letters-to-the-editor about the real estate tax were published almost only before the election. This study also treats the intresting phenomenon that the Alliance, before the election, had the power to define their election promise but after the election they seem to have lost this power and instead the real estate tax question was defined by the media. The Alliance claimed that they would  ”abolish the real estate tax and introduce a low community charge” and DN used this definition in their newspaper. After the election, DN reported about the election as a new real estate tax, which is a very different thing.

Magistro baigiamajame darbe analizuojami nekilnojamojo turto apmokestinimo ypatumai Lietuvos Respublikoje, Čekijos Respublikoje, Ispanijos Karalystėje, Armėnijos Respublikoje bei Kazachstano Respublikoje. Didžiausią dėmesį skiriame Lietuvos Respublikos nekilnojamojo turto mokesčio įstatymo, priimto 2005 m. birželio 7 d., įsigaliojusio nuo 2006 m. sausio 1 d. ir sukėlusio daug prieštaringų vertinimų, analizei. / In this Master thesis the greatest attention is paid to the Law on Immovable property tax of the Republic of Lithuania, which has been valid since the 1st of January in 2006. According to this Law, the Real Estate, owned by Individuals and used for commercial purposes was taxed for the first time. Wondering if it was useful and socially correct for the Legislator to enact such the Law, which caused a lot of endless and contradictories discussions, we objectively analyse different opinions of Lawyers, Economists, other Specialists and Politicians, related to this problematic topic, also declaring our position on the same question. Further in the thesis it is dealt with separate elements of the Real Estate tax: such as object, tax payers, rates, privileges and etc. Also discussing problems related to the taxable value of Real Estate. At the end of the first chapter, it is analysed the perspectives of this tax, discussing the idea of Universal Taxation of Real Estate in the Republic of Lithuania. In the beginning of the second chapter it is studied the EU politics on the direct taxation (which includes the taxation on Real Estate). Furthermore, in the second and third chapters it is analysed peculiarities of Real Estate tax in the Czech Republic, Spain, Armenia and Kazakhstan. At the end of this Master thesis, we present conclusions and model some suggestions how to make this Law on Immovable property more effective in the Republic of Lithuania.

The diploma thesis deals with the real estate tax and the impacts of amendments of real estate tax legislation from the year 2008 to 2010. The main aim of this thesis is to analyze the impact of the implementation of amendments to the decision-making and real estate tax revenue of municipalities. The work is divided into two parts - the theoretical part and case studies. The first section describes the principle of taxation, its importance for the municipal budget and individual legislative changes. The situation in the EU is also briefly described. The second focuses on three municipalities which have applied the local coefficient: Planá nad Lužnicí, Petrov and Dolní Břežany. The text includes a financial analysis of the income part of their budgets based on interviews with representatives of these municipalities. A comparison of the municipalities and a summary of findings are concluded at the end of the work.

The theoretical part of thesis on "Real Estate Tax in the Czech Republic" is dedicated to defining the individual components of this tax and legislative amendment pursuant to the Act No. 338/1992 Collection of real estate tax. The practical part of thesis is focused on comparing this tax to the applicable regulations of the Slovak Republic and define the main differences.