No abstract / Mini Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2019. / Taxation / MCom (Taxation) / Unrestricted

The main idea of this thesis is to deepen our understanding of the relationship between tax policy and heterogeneous capital. The first chapter revisits the question of whether preferential tax regimes are desirable in a context where some jurisdictions have leadership advantages in their choice of tax policy. It is argued that if regions or countries involved in tax competition act sequentially as Stackelberg competitors, they will prefer to limit the use of preferential tax policy. If firms located in small regions face higher mobility costs on average than those located in large regions, small regions want to ban preferential tax regimes while large regions will tend to support them. If jurisdictions are populated mainly by firms with low mobility costs, they will prefer preferential tax treatments. On the other hand, if they are populated mostly by firms with high mobility costs, small regions want to restrict preferential tax policies while large regions will favour them. The second chapter embraces the neoclassical theory of investment to model the rate of investment in physical and intangible capital. It uses data from the EU KLEMS database, the Oxford University Centre for Business Taxation and the Tax Foundation. It concludes that the equations for the rate of investment in physical and intangible capital are distinct. Corporate tax incentives affect the rates of investment in physical and intangible capital, but differently. The higher rate of depreciation of intangible capital relative to physical capital seems to explain the increasing ratio of investment in intangible to physical capital. The third chapter examines heterogeneity by type of capital within the relationship between capital and its user cost, for five types of physical capital asset and two types of intangible capital asset. The dataset is almost similar to that of chapter two. The results show that, in the short-run dynamics, both the dynamic fixed-effects and GMM results seem to agree on the role of changes in the user cost of capital on the accumulation of the stock of capital. Overall, dynamic fixed-effects estimation seems to yield results that are more consistent with the theoretical conclusions on investment behaviour and empirical results for physical capital already established in the literature.

Share-based payments have become a popular form of employee remuneration, largely for its potential to address the agency problem and are especially effective when made to senior employees. Accounting standards require companies to report share-based payments made to employees as expenses in their financial statements, but extant South African tax legislation does not permit a deduction where shares are awarded to serve as incentives for senior employees. This is due to the fact that the courts do not view the issue of a company‟s own shares as “expenditure”. South African tax legislation presently contains a special tax deduction for shares awarded to employees, but this provision‟s low monetary limit and restrictive requirements are considered to be inadequate, where the intention is to provide adequate incentives to senior employees in order to address the agency problem. The objective of this study is to evaluate whether sufficient grounds exist, based on the principles of sound tax policy, for the legislature to enact a special tax deduction for share-based payments, which would serve as an adequate incentive to senior employees. The evaluation found that the current tax position infringes upon several principles of sound tax policy and that an intervention by the legislature is required. / MCom (South African and International Tax), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Share-based payments have become a popular form of employee remuneration, largely for its potential to address the agency problem and are especially effective when made to senior employees. Accounting standards require companies to report share-based payments made to employees as expenses in their financial statements, but extant South African tax legislation does not permit a deduction where shares are awarded to serve as incentives for senior employees. This is due to the fact that the courts do not view the issue of a company‟s own shares as “expenditure”. South African tax legislation presently contains a special tax deduction for shares awarded to employees, but this provision‟s low monetary limit and restrictive requirements are considered to be inadequate, where the intention is to provide adequate incentives to senior employees in order to address the agency problem. The objective of this study is to evaluate whether sufficient grounds exist, based on the principles of sound tax policy, for the legislature to enact a special tax deduction for share-based payments, which would serve as an adequate incentive to senior employees. The evaluation found that the current tax position infringes upon several principles of sound tax policy and that an intervention by the legislature is required. / MCom (South African and International Tax), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

This dissertation explores the impact of tax policy and institutions on decisions in the market for housing. The first essay is joint work with Andrew Hanson. In it, we estimate the sensitivity of mortgage interest deducted on federal tax returns to the availability of the Mortgage Interest Deduction (MID). Our primary results show that for every one percentage point increase in the tax rate that applies to deductibility, the amount of mortgage interest deducted increases by $303–590. The second essay simulates changes to average home prices in twenty-seven cities that would result were the MID reformed. I use local variation in housing parameters to simulate home price changes for three different reforms: eliminating the MID, converting the MID to a fifteen percent credit, and capping the MID at fifteen percent. City price changes vary in response to a single policy by as much as 12.8 percentage points. Spatial variation within cities is also notable, with areas high in income experiencing steeper price declines and areas of lower income experiencing shallow declines. The third essay is joint work with Andrew Hanson, Zack Hawley, and Bo Liu. We design and implement an experimental test for differential response by Mortgage Loan Originators (MLOs) to requests for information about loans. Our e-mail correspondence experiment is designed to analyze differential treatment by client race and credit score. Our results show net discrimination of 1.8 percent by MLOs through non-response.

This thesis explores the causal relationships between tax incentives, research and development (R&D) and productivity. Using R&D survey data from the United Kingdom (UK) Office for National Statistics and administrative data on corporation tax returns from HM Revenue and Customs, I first conduct empirical analyses of tax incentive policies for R&D, and then estimate the elasticity of output with respect to firms' own R&D efforts as well as external R&D performed by neighboring firms in technology and product space. In the first two chapters which focus on tax incentive policies and their evaluation, I am able to identify the policy effect of interest by exploiting two significant reforms in the UK in 2002 and 2008. I find that tax incentives had a positive and significant stimulating effect on businesses' R&D spending. I argue that the availability of a quasi-experimental set up helps in better identifying the policy impact. The production function estimation exercise in the third chapter shows that double counting of R&D human resources and materials in the production function causes the elasticity of output with respect to the firms' own R&D to be substantially underestimated. I also find that the R&D done in multi-unit enterprise groups is productive for the production facilities which themselves do not perform R&D. The Jaffe (1986) and Bloom et al. (2013) measures of external R&D, which account for closeness of firms in technology and product space can be constructed and included in the production function in the spirit of Griliches (1979). I find that the point estimate for the elasticity of output with respect to firms' own R&D is around 3 percent and statistically significant. Evidence is mixed regarding the productivity effects of R&D carried out by competitors in the product market or neighboring firms in technology space. The detailed data sets used in this study offer valuable resources for empirical work on R&D and productivity.

Ao final da primeira década dos anos 2000, com o objetivo de conter a desaceleração econômica decorrente da crise internacional do período, o governo brasileiro lançou mão da chamada política econômica anticíclica. Dentre as principais medidas adotadas destacou-se a desoneração tributária de veículos. Mas por que esse setor foi escolhido? Os impactos sobre a economia brasileira seriam menos positivos se a desoneração fosse dada a outro setor da economia, como a agropecuária? Esta tese busca analisar os efeitos dessa política sobre a economia brasileira no período, comparando-a com uma política de desoneração tributária voltada à agropecuária. Por suas características estruturais - especialmente no que se refere ao perfil de sua mão de obra e à sua distribuição territorial - espera-se que a desoneração tributária da agropecuária produzisse efeitos mais positivos sobre os agregados macroeconômicos e, principalmente, sobre a distribuição de renda e o equilíbrio regional do que a desoneração tributária da indústria automotiva. Fazendo uso de um modelo de equilíbrio geral computável inter-regional (TERM-BR), devidamente atualizado para o ano de análise (2009) e agregado de acordo com os objetivos desta tese, são simuladas e comparadas duas políticas de desoneração tributárias de mesmo custo direto para o governo. Os resultados observados permitem concluir que a desoneração de produtos agropecuários pode ser considerada superior à desoneração de veículos do ponto de vista de seus efeitos sobre o emprego, a renda, o consumo das famílias, o PIB e, especialmente, sobre a distribuição regional da atividade econômica e a distribuição de renda. Este tese discute ainda o papel da indústria no crescimento econômico como possível argumento em defesa da priorização dada à indústria automotiva em 2009, a despeito dos resultados empíricos obtidos. Conclui-se que a escolha de priorizar a indústria automotiva naquele momento possa ter sido resultado da influência política do setor sobre o governo, em um processo de captura característico de economias com forte presença estatal, como a brasileira. / At the end of the first decade of the 2000s, in order to contain the economic slowdown resulting from the international crisis, the Brazilian government made use of so-called countercyclical economic policy. Among the main measures adopted stood out the tax relief of vehicles. But why this sector was chosen? The impacts on the Brazilian economy would be less positive if the exemption was given to another sector of the economy, such as agriculture? This thesis analyzes the effects of this policy on the Brazilian economy in the period, comparing it with a policy of tax relief focused on agriculture. By their structural characteristics - especially as regards on its workforce and territorial distribution - is expected that the relief of agriculture generates more positive effects on macroeconomic aggregates and mainly on the distribution of income and the regional balance than the tax exemption in the automotive industry. Making use of a computable general equilibrium (CGE) interregional model (TERM-BR), updated to the year of analysis (2009) and aggregate in accordance with the objectives of this thesis, two alternative tax exemption policies with the same cost to the government are simulated and compared. The findings show that the tax relief of agricultural products can be considered superior to the tax relief of vehicles from de point of view of its effects on employment, income, household consumption, GDP and especially on the regional distribution of activity economic and income distribution. This thesis also discusses the role of industry in economic growth as a possible argument for the prioritization given to the automotive industry in 2009, despite the above empirical results. It follows that the choice to prioritize the automotive industry at that time may have been a result of sector policy influence on the government, in a capture process typical of economies with strong state presence, like Brazil.

Despite a large body of literature addressing the issue, questions remain about whether nonprofit hospitals provide more community benefit than do for-profit hospitals. This lack of information impacts governments, hospitals, and the healthcare industry, as stakeholders attempt to generate requirements to which hospitals should adhere to maintain nonprofit status, and thus tax exemption. This study addressed this lack of information by examining U.S. hospitals through the lens of stewardship theory to determine whether nonprofits are better stewards of the public good than for-profits, and thus likely to provide higher quality and access. The study applied logistic regression to Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) data indicating levels of perceived quality, or patient satisfaction, and American Hospital Association data identifying service mix profitability, an indicator of access. The sample included all 2,701 U.S. hospitals receiving CMS funding. Findings indicated that high quality hospitals were more likely to be nonprofit than for-profit (b = 0.07; Exp(B) = 1.07; p = .000). Neutral access hospitals, those with mid-range service mix profitability, were more likely to be nonprofit than for-profit (b = 1.73; Exp(B) = 5.63; p = .000) as were high access hospitals, those with low service mix profitability (b = .276; Exp(B) = 1.32; p = .04). The R_L^2 for the models was .06 and .03, respectively. Given this limited predictive power, it seems unlikely the added value (access and quality) nonprofits are likely to provide justifies tax exemption. If further research supports this argument for other potentially relevant variables such as technical quality of care, governments could remove nonprofit hospitals' tax exemptions and apply the resulting tax revenue to other policy areas to realize positive social change.

A questão da excessiva carga tributária incidente sobre a economia brasileira tem estado no foco das discussões no cenário político e social, e por sua vez, não deixa de ser objeto de pesquisa na área acadêmica, sendo a Teoria da Tributação Ótima, um tema recorrente nos mais diversos cenários, especialmente, entre economistas, juristas e cientistas políticos. A teoria da tributação ótima tem como base teórica, o estudo do delineamento de um sistema tributário ideal (tax design), objetivando a análise de como determinada receita tributária pode ser arrecadada pelo governo ao menor custo para a sociedade, em termos de perda de eficiência. Entretanto, a Teoria da Tributação Ótima apresenta como o seu desafio, a compatibilização entre o critério da eficiência e o da capacidade contributiva, e consciente da importância do tema para a instituição de políticas tributárias, emergimos-nos nesta pesquisa que deu nascimento a presente dissertação. / The excessive tax burdens issue incident on the Brazilian economy has been the focus of discussion in the political and social scene, and it is still subject of research in the academic area, being the Optimal Tax Theory, a recurring theme in various scenarios, especially among economists, lawyers and political scientists. The tax authorities represented by the government, undeniably has the need to raise taxes to achieve your social objectives, however, the tax collection activity can lead to distortions in the economy, particularly on the economic decisions of agents, making mister find a better solution to mitigate such undesired effects on the productive economy, through the design of an ideal tax system is emerging - thus the Optimal Tax Theory. The Optimal Tax Theory has as its theoretical basis, the study of the design of an optimal tax system (tax design) , aiming at the analysis of how certain tax revenue can be collected by the government at minimum cost to society, reaching certain distributional goals a lower cost in terms of loss of efficiency. However, the Theory of Taxation Great features as its challenge to reconcile the efficiency criterion and the ability to pay, and we are aware of the economic and political \"mainstream\" that is the theme symbolizes for imposition of tax policies, we emerge in this study - that gave birth to this thesis.

This professorial dissertation thesis collects several empirical studies on tax distribution and tax reform in Germany. Chapter 2 deals with two studies on effective income taxation, based on representative micro data sets from tax statistics. The first study analyses the effective income taxation at the individual level, in particular with respect to the top incomes. It is based on an integrated micro data file of household survey data and income tax statistics, which captures the entire income distribution up to the very top. Despite substantial tax base erosion and reductions of top tax rates, the German personal income tax has remained effectively progressive. The distribution of the tax burden is highly concentrated and the German economic elite is still taxed relatively heavily, even though the effective tax rate for this group has significantly declined. The second study of Chapter 2 highlights the effective income taxation of functional income sources, such as labor income, business and capital income, etc. Using income tax micro data and microsimulation models, we allocate the individual income tax liability to the respective income sources, according to different apportionment schemes accounting for losses. We find that the choice of the apportionment scheme markedly affects the tax shares of income sources and implicit tax rates, in particular those of capital income. Income types without significant losses such as labor income or transfer incomes show higher tax shares and implicit tax rates if we account for losses. The opposite is true for capital income, in particular for income from renting and leasing. Chapter 3 presents two studies on business taxation, based on representative micro data sets from tax statistics and the microsimulation model BizTax. The first part provides a study on fundamental reform options for the German local business tax. We find that today’s high concentration of local business tax revenues on corporations with high profits decreases if the tax base is broadened by integrating more taxpayers and by including more elements of business value added. The reform scenarios with a broader tax base distribute the local business tax revenue per capita more equally across regional categories. The second study of Chapter 3 discusses the macroeconomic performance of business taxation against the background of corporate income. A comparison of the tax base reported in tax statistics with the macroeconomic corporate income from national accounts gives hints to considerable tax base erosion. The average implicit tax rate on corporate income was around 20 percent since 2001, and thus falling considerably short of statutory tax rates and effective tax rates discussed in the literature. For lack of detailed accounting data it is hard to give precise reasons for the presumptive tax base erosion. Chapter 4 deals with several assessment studies on the ecological tax reform implemented in Germany as of 1999. First, we describe the scientific, ideological, and political background of the ecological tax reform. Further, we present the main findings of a first systematic impact analysis. We employ two macroeconomic models, an econometric input-output model and a recursive-dynamic computable general equilibrium (CGE) model. Both models show that Germany’s ecological tax reform helps to reduce energy consumption and CO2 emissions without having a substantial adverse effect on overall economic growth. It could have a slightly positive effect on employment. The reform’s impact on the business sector and the effects of special provisions granted to agriculture and the goods and materials sectors are outlined in a further study. The special provisions avoid higher tax burdens on the energy-intensive production. However, they widely reduce the marginal tax rates and thus the incentives to energy saving. Though the reform of special provisions 2003 increased the overall tax burden of the energy-intensive industry, the enlarged eligibility for tax rebates neutralizes the ecologic incentives. Based on the Income and Consumption Survey of 2003, we have analyzed the distributional impact of the ecological tax reform. The increased energy taxes show a clear regressive impact relative to disposable income. Families with children face a higher tax burden relative to household income. The reduction of pension contributions and the automatic adjustment of social security transfers widely mitigate this regressive impact. Households with low income or with many children nevertheless bear a slight increase in tax burden. Refunding the eco tax revenue by an eco bonus would make the reform clearly progressive. / Diese Habilitationsschrift fasst verschiedene empirische Studien zu Steuerlastverteilung und Steuerreformen in Deutschland zusammen. In Kapitel 2 werden zwei Studien zur effektiven Einkommensteuerbelastung dargestellt. Die erste Studie analysiert die effektive Einkommensteuerbelastung auf der persönlichen Ebene, insbesondere bei Personen mit hohen Einkommen. Grundlage der Analyse ist ein integrierter Mikrodatensatz aus Haushaltserhebungen und Steuerstatistik, der die vollständige Einkommensverteilung zuverlässig abbildet. Trotz erheblicher Steuerbegünstigungen und Senkungen der Spitzensteuersätze wirkt die deutsche Einkommensteuer klar progressiv, auch wenn die Belastung der Top-Verdiener in den letzten Jahren deutlich gesunken ist. Die zweite Studie in Kapitel 2 analysiert die effektive Einkommensteuerbelastung von verschiedenen funktionalen Einkommensquellen. Auf Grundlage von steuerstatistischen Mikrodaten und Mikrosimulationsmodellen analysieren wir die Anteile der Einkunftsarten an der Steuerbelastung für verschiedene Aufteilungsregeln unter Berücksichtigung von Verlusten. Die Wahl der Aufteilungsregel wirkt sich spürbar auf den Steueranteil und die impliziten Steuersätze von Einkommensarten aus, wenn Verluste berücksichtigt werden, vor allem bei den Vermögenseinkommen. Kapitel 3 enthält zwei Studien zur Unternehmensbesteuerung, die auf repräsentativen Einzeldatensätzen der Steuerstatistik und dem Mikrosimulationsmodell BizTax basieren. Zunächst wird eine Mikrosimulationsanalyse zu grundlegenden Reformmodellen für die Gewerbesteuer vorgestellt. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die starke Konzentration des Gewerbesteueraufkommens auf die Unternehmen mit höheren Gewinnen deutlich vermindert werden kann, wenn die Bemessungsgrundlagen verbreitert werden, durch Einbeziehung aller Unternehmen und eine Ausweitung auf weitere Komponenten der betrieblichen Wertschöpfung. Diese Reformszenarien verteilen das Steueraufkommen je Einwohner deutlich gleichmäßiger über die Regionen. In der zweiten Studie des Kapitels 3 analysieren wir das Unternehmensteueraufkommen vor dem Hintergrund der gesamtwirtschaftlichen Unternehmensgewinne. Ein Vergleich der steuerlichen Bemessungsgrundlagen mit den entsprechenden Unternehmensgewinnen der Volkswirtschaftlichen Gesamtrechnungen ergibt eine beträchtliche Besteuerungslücke. Die durchschnittliche effektive Unternehmensteuerbelastung dürfte sich seit 2001 um 20 Prozent bewegt haben. Dies ist deutlich niedriger als die nominalen tariflichen Steuersätze und die effektiven Steuersätze, die in der Literatur ermittelt werden. Mangels detaillierter statistischer Erfassung der steuerlichen Gewinnermittlung ist es derzeit nicht möglich, diese Besteuerungslücke genauer aufzuklären. In Kapitel 4 werden verschiedene Studien zur ökologischen Steuerreform dargestellt. Zunächst werden die wissenschaftlichen, ideologischen und politischen Hintergründe dieser Reform erläutert. Danach wird eine erste systematische Wirkungsanalyse dargestellt. Dabei werden zwei makroökonomische Modelle eingesetzt, ein ökonometrisches Input-Output-Modell und ein empirisches rekursiv-dynamisches allgemeines Gleichgewichtsmodell. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die ökologische Steuerreform den Energieverbrauch und die CO2-Emissionen spürbar senken kann, ohne dass dies nennenswerte Wachstumseinbußen nach sich ziehen würde. Ferner löst die Reform leicht positive Beschäftigungseffekte aus. Die Wirkungen der ökologischen Steuerreform nach Wirtschaftsbereichen und die Wirkungen der Steuervergünstigungen für Landwirtschaft und Produzierendes Gewerbe werden in einer weiteren Studie analysiert. Die Steuervergünstigungen vermeiden höhere Belastungen in den energieintensiven Produktionsbereichen. Zugleich reduzieren sie die Grenzbelastungen und somit die Anreize zum Energiesparen in diesen Branchen weitgehend. Die Reform der Steuervergünstigungen hat zwar die Belastungen für die energieintensive Wirtschaft seit 2003 erhöht. Die zusätzlichen Anreizwirkungen wurden aber durch die Ausweitung des „Spitzenausgleichs“ konterkariert. Die Effekte der ökologischen Steuerreform auf die Einkommensverteilung wurden auf Grundlage der Einkommens- und Verbrauchsstichprobe 2003 untersucht. Die erhöhten Energiesteuern wirken klar regressiv bezogen auf das verfügbare Einkommen. Familien mit Kindern werden relativ stärker belastet. Die Senkung der Rentenbeiträge und die automatische Anpassung von Sozialleistungen mildern die regressive Belastungswirkung. Bei Haushalten mit niedrigen Einkommen oder bei Familien mit vielen Kindern bleiben jedoch Nettobelastungen bestehen. Eine Rückerstattung des Ökosteueraufkommens durch einen „Ökobonus“ würde die gesamten Verteilungswirkungen der Reform deutlich progressiv machen.