Master of Arts / Department of Economics / Tracy Turner / I analyze the impact of differences in the cigarette excise tax rates of bordering states on the price elasticity of demand for cigarettes in the home state. Using unique county-level data on the sales tax revenues collected from Kansas tobacco sellers by industry type provided by the Kansas Department of Revenue, as well as data on cigarette excise tax rates, distance to Kansas’ borders, and the combined state and county sales tax rate, I examine the determinants of tobacco sales tax revenue using a fixed effects model. The analysis allows me to infer cigarette demand effects, and I find that the price elasticity of demand for cigarettes in Kansas becomes significantly more elastic closer to a low tax border. Model estimates for gas stations with convenience stores and tobacco retailers suggest that a Kansas cigarette excise tax decrease would result in more sales tax revenue on average for counties within 50 miles of a low tax Kansas border, ceteris paribus.

Magistro baigiamajame darbe analizuojami šešėlinės ekonomikos mastai ir pasireiškimo formos Lietuvoje bei veiksniai, įtakojantys kontrabandos atsiradimą. Nagrinėjama akcizo mokesčio ir jo tarifų didėjimo įtaka valdžios biudžeto pajamoms, akcizinių prekių realizacijos apimtims bei kontrabandos mastams. Darbe įvertinta kontrabandos įtaka akcizinių prekių realizacijai ir pajamų iš akcizo mokesčio surinkimui į valdžios biudžetą. Nustatyti valdžios biudžeto nuostoliai 2002-2006 metais dėl padidėjusių akcizų tarifų, kontrabandos, valdžios biudžeto pajamų iš akcizų atotrūkio nuo BVP. / The extent of the black economy, the ways of its manifestation in Lithuania and actions, supporting the emergence of smuggling are analyzed in this Master’s thesis. The influence of the excise tax and the growth of its tariffs on the state revenue, the realization amount of excise charged goods’ and the extent of smuggling are examined. The influence of smuggling on the realization of the excise charged goods and on the income of the excise tax to the state budget are evaluated in the work. Also the damage of the state budget within 2002-2006 because of increased excise tariffs, smuggling and the avulsion the revenue of the state excise from GDP are defined.

Bakalauro baigiamajame darbe nagrinėjami finansinių išteklių ir akcizų mokėjimo laikino atidėjimo režimo ypatumų teoriniai aspektai ir atliekama UAB „Grivzas“ 2007 – 2010 m. finansinių išteklių panaudojimo taikant akcizų mokėjimo laikino atidėjimo režimą analizė ir vertinimas. Nagrinėjama, kokiais finansiniais ištekliais UAB „Grivzas“ disponuoja, kaip juos panaudoja. Kokias UAB „Grivzas“ veiklos galimybes suteikia akcizų mokėjimo laikino atidėjimo režimas. Darbe naudojami finansinių išteklių įvertinimo rodikliai ir Lietuvos Banko skelbiamos tarpbankinės palūkanų normos. Kad įvertinti, akcizų mokėjimo laikino atidėjimo režimą, buvo pasitelktos patvirtintos ir hipotetinės UAB „Grivzas“ metinės atskaitomybės ataskaitos. Nagrinėjami du įmonės veiklos scenarijai: vienas, kai UAB „Grivzas“ taiko akcizų mokėjimo laikino atidėjimo režimą ir antras, kai UAB „Grivzas“ netaiko akcizų mokėjimo laikino atidėjimo režimo ir apyvartinėms lėšoms pasiima trumpalaikę paskolą iš banko, akcizo mokesčiui sumokėti. Įvertinus UAB „Grivzas“ kapitalo struktūrą, kurios didžioji dalis – skolintas kapitalas ir įvertinus pinigines lėšas, kurių įmonė turi labai mažai, ir kurios yra „ užšaldytos“ pirkėjų įsiskolinimuose, vertinami apyvartumo rodikliai, kur atsargos UAB „Grivzas“ yra atnaujinamos vidutiniškai kas 6 dienos, o pirkėjai su įmone atsiskaito vidutiniškai kas 27 dienos. Apskaičiavus apyvartumo rodiklius, buvo nuspręsta imti paskolą apyvartinėms lėšoms akcizo mokesčio sumos dydžio (nes netaikant... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The final Bachelor‘s paper deals with theoretical aspects of financial sources and peculiarities of provisional deferment regime of excise duty payment, as well as the analysis and assessment of application of financial sources when implementing provisional deferment regime of excise duty payment. The study in order to find out what financial recourses are being disposable and how they are used by UAB „Grivzas“ was carried out as well as the possibilities to be gained by UAB „Grivzas“ thanks to provisional deferment regime of excise duty payment. Indices of assessment of financial sources have been used in the paper and a well as the interbank interest rate published by Bank of Lithuania. In order to evaluate the provisional deferment regime of excise duty payment annual financial statements of UAB „Grivzas“ approved and hypothetical have been used. Two scenarios of company‘s business operations have been considered: one - when UAB „Grivzas“ does employ provisional deferment regime of excise duty payment and the second- when when UAB „Grivzas“ does not employ provisional deferment regime of excise duty payment and for the current turnover takes a short-term loan from the bank for payment of the excise duty. Having analysed the capital structure of UAB „Grivzas“ the major part of which – borrowed capital and having assessed the little amount of assets the company has at its disposal and that is „frozen“ in buyers‘ debts, indices of turnover have been assessed where the... [to full text]

Lesotho Revenue Authority became operational in January 2003, when introducing the Authority the main aim was to increase revenue effectively through acquisition of skilled staff, increase integrity and effective use of automated systems. However, it seems that some of the systems that the department employs to collect revenue are not effective. There are no legal frameworks in place to ensure that regulations are enforceable. Performance appraisal is not practiced. There is no adequate publicity to make taxpayers aware of tax policies and compliance. This paper examines the effectiveness of tax collection system at customs and excise. This study is a qualitative case study approach. Most of the primary data will be collected from the use of open ended questionnaires and in-depth interview schedules which make an allowance to a greater internal between the researcher and the interviewee. A sample of 50 employees was used with the objective that employees were chosen on the basis of knowledge of the organisation and therefore purposive sampling was used. Descriptive statistics was used to analyse data and it included frequency distribution whereby the responses were presented in a tabular form and bar charts. The research findings revealed that department of Customs and Excise does not have an effective system for its collection of tax. Their administration is very poor performance appraisal is not practiced and there is not enough publicity on tax policies and compliance. In order to improve the effectiveness of the system, Customs and Excise should consider setting new policies and regulations which are in line with their current operation. Performance appraisal and reward system should also be taken into consideration to improve efficiency among the employees and lastly the use of different radio stations should be considered as awareness campaign on tax policies and compliance. / Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2007.

Thesis on the topic the Comparison of the Excise Taxes in the Czech Republic and Slovak Republic Tax Systém is divided into two parts. Theoretical part discusses the legislative regulation of excise duty on alcohol in these same countries. But it also outlined the EU legislation, from which the national legal standards are based. In the practical part is an analysis of excise duties, focusing on the impact on the economy and the state budget. The thesis is concluded with proposals for legislative action.

This dissertation contains three essays. They are "On Optimal Excise Taxes: Becker’s Household-Production Approach", "The Pricing of Public Intermediate Goods Revisited", and "Piecemeal Design and Reform of Commodity Taxes". In the first essay, Becker’s household production model is used to investigate optimal excise taxes. We are particularly interested in what can be said about the optimal tax structure from the information of household production activities and the new insights that can be gained into the optimal tax structure by using Becker’s approach. In the second essay, we revisit the pricing of publicly produced inputs for competitive downstream industries under a general equilibrium setting and with a general production technology. We emphasize the dependence of the price structure of the private sector upon public prices and explore the consequences on the public pricing rules with such a dependence. In the third essay, we consider the design and reform of commodity taxes with a given general income tax. The major part of the paper investigates tax reforms which are Pareto-improving from the status quo, with and without lump-sum taxes. / Ph. D.

This thesis is concerned with a comparison of excise duty on tobacco products in the Czech Republic and the member countries of the European Union. Its aim is to find groups of countries with similar indicators, to explore the similarities between these countries and to try to identify the possible effects that may cause differences. The thesis is divided into two parts. The theoretical part is focused on the characteristics of excise duties and primarily on excise duty on tobacco products. It deals with European Commission directives and minimum excise rates. The practical part deals with selected indicators related to excise duty on tobacco products. These indicators are excise duty on tobacco products as percentage of GDP and percentage of total taxation, specific excise per 1 000 cigarettes as percentage of WAP and excise yield in EUR per 1 000 cigarettes of the WAP. The last indicator is cigarettes consumption per capita, which is not included in the analysis. Data is processed by cluster analysis for the years 2003 and 2014 in computer software STATISTICA 12. The task of cluster analysis is to find groups of countries which are similar. The results of cluster analysis are described in the next chapters. The differences of the individual clusters and the possible influences that these differences may have caused are also described in the last chapters.

Магистерская работа посвящена совершенствованию системы транспортных налогов Китая, с целью их экологизации. Пояснительная записка состоит из введения, 3 глав и заключения. В первой главе рассматриваются вопросы обложения транспортных средств в Российской Федерации и в Китае, а также исследуются виды воздействия транспорта на окружающую среду. Во второй главе анализируется развития автопарка в России и в Китае, делается вывод о его значительном влиянии на окружающую среду, исследуются объемы выбросов от транспортных средств в атмосферу, а также поступления по группе транспортных налогов и других обязательных платежей в бюджетную систему государств. В третьей главе предлагается изменение системы транспортных налогов Китая, связанных с эксплуатацией транспортных средств с целью придания им большего экологического характера. / The master's thesis is devoted to improving the system of transport taxes in China, with the goal of greening them. The explanatory note consists of introduction, 3 chapters and conclusion. The first chapter discusses the issues of vehicle taxation in the Russian Federation and China, and explores the types of environmental impacts of transport. The second chapter analyzes the development of the vehicle fleet in Russia and China, concludes that it has a significant impact on the environment, examines the volume of emissions from vehicles into the atmosphere, as well as revenues from the group of transport taxes and other obligatory payments to the state budget system. The third chapter proposes a change in the system of transport taxes in China associated with the operation of vehicles in order to give them a greater environmental character.

Sin taxes have increased significantly during the past three years. There have been different opinions regarding the levying of sin taxes: in relation to whether it helps the government to raise revenue or reduces the consumption thereof. This study therefore investigates the actual purpose for these taxes by means of a literature and empirical review. An increase in sin taxes affects the poor more than the rich because such taxes are classified as a regressive type of tax. The primary research problem addressed by this literature study was to determine the percentage that the lower income earning group of South African citizens, who are funded by social grants, spend on sin taxed items. This study focused on two areas: the social grant system in conjunction with the Consumer Price Index (“CPI”) and the levying of sin taxes in South Africa. Over the years, South Africa has experienced an increase in its levels of poverty. There are eight types of social grants in South Africa, to which the lower income earning South African citizens, who live below the poverty line, are entitled, depending on their circumstances. This study discusses only seven of the eight social grants, by considering the purpose of the social grant, criteria, means testing requirements and the monthly amount available. These grants include the child support grant, old age grant, disability grant, foster care grant, care dependency grant, grant-in-aid and war veteran grant. The CPI of South Africa is briefly addressed in this study, followed by the increases over the past three years. The escalations of the social grants and that of the CPI of South Africa have been compared in order to determine whether the government remains concerned for their lower income earning citizens most of whom live below the poverty line. For purposes of this study, sin taxes have been narrowed down to include only alcoholic beverages and cigarettes. This study determined the increases of sin taxes on these substances over the past three years as well as the consumption thereof. Their consumption was determined by the sales volume. A comparison of the increases and consumption was made, the purpose of which was to determine government’s motivation for these increases. The empirical review of this study investigated the social grant recipients’ spending habits on these items. This was done by means of a self- developed questionnaire. The purpose of the questionnaire was to determine the percentage of their grant money that the social grant recipients spend on alcoholic beverages and cigarettes. The results and findings led to a conclusion which addressed the problem of this study. This study makes recommendations for further investigation of the sin tax implications for the lower income earning South African citizens, who are funded by social grants. / MCom (Accountancy)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2015

Customs duty represents an inescapable financial obligation in international trade. Such duties are determined by valuing the imported goods according to the classification of the goods. To classify the goods under an appropriate tariff heading is notoriously difficult – despite the almost trite principles from judicial decisions amongst the jurisdictions discussed in this study, such as the European Union, Australia, Canada and the United States of America. In South Africa, the Customs and Excise Act 91 of 1964 defines the ambit of customs duties and ratifies the Harmonised System ("HS"). The HS allows for a uniform approach to tariff classification used by countries across the world accounting for in excess of 95% of the world trade. Countries that employ this system are obliged to incorporate the HS into such country's domestic legislation and to use all headings and subheadings of the HS without addition or alteration, together with the numerical codes and to apply the General Rules for Interpretation and all section, chapter and subheading notes. Classification of goods is to be done objectively at the time of presentation of the goods to the tax authorities. The intentions of the importer or the descriptions of the goods in advertisements and manuals constitute inadmissible evidence. In the recent judgment of Smith Mining Equipment (Pty) Ltd v The Commissioner: South African Revenue Service1 ("Smith Mining") the court, however, opined that it was not obliged to consider the notes referred to above, in the absence of evidence on use of the specific vehicles at the different locations allowed for in the Tariff Headings. The Court expected the importer to present evidence on use and relied on evidence from the manual, whilst it ignored the evidence that the importer presented structured along the applicable tariff notes. The court's approach clamped on the Additional Rules in the USA and the more liberal approach applied in Canada, but stands in conflict with the approach in the European Union and the trite principles from the South African case law. / LLM (Import and Export Law), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015