No description available.

This thesis provides a survey of the procedures used throughout the 50 United States for assessing forest properties for general property tax purposes. A similar survey was completed in 1966. However, state guides for assessing forest properties have changed considerably since then and these developments have been analyzed. As a result of this analysis three points stand out: (l) States are assuming a greater role in guiding the assessment of forest lands. (2) The more recent guides that provide detailed instructions are designed to determine forest property values based on productivity. (3) The newer guides are designed for greater ease of administration and uniformity. / Master of Science

Generally, death taxes are a social instrument used to break up large quantities of wealth in this country. They are intended to act as a pressure relief valve and prevent wealth concentration in the hands of a small number of individuals. Because the objectives and goals of individuals may be quite different from society, forest landowners are one group who face potentially serious problems due to death taxes. Illiquidity, low cash flows and credit problems can cause difficulties for heirs of forest land. Death taxes are examined from a historical, legal and economic perspective. Specifically, this study focuses on the implications of both federal and state death taxes on private forest landowners. Particular attention is paid to changes which have occurred because of the 1981 Economic Recovery Tax Act (ERTA). Provisions which are designed to give estate tax relief to nonindustrial private forest landowners are also examined. Study results show that federal death taxes are not reducing wealth concentration. It is also shown that through proper planning, estate taxes at the federal level can be eliminated. The state death tax burden can be substantial however, and must still be considered, even though many states have substantially eased their laws following ERTA. Proper planning, particularly when forest land is involved, should include both spouses. Finally, note that special provisions designed to give estate tax relief to farm and woodland owners have fallen short of this goal, primarily because of the complex regulations which are involved. / M.S.

The Taxpayer Service Division contributes to the Internal Revenue Service mission of achieving the highest possible voluntary compliance with the Federal income tax law by answering questions and helping taxpayers in their return preparation efforts. These services are provided by Taxpayer Service Representatives and Taxpayer Service Specialists (TSS's). The TSS position was established in 1975 to upgrade the quality of assistance provided. TSS duties include being able to provide assistance with problems involving complex areas of the tax law. The purpose of the study was to disclose to what extent TSS's are called on to answer tax questions related to partnerships, corporations, and Subchapter S corporations and to disclose whether they have been trained and are able to answer the inquiries.

Call number: LD2668 .T4 1979 L45 / Master of Arts

Thesis. 1977. M.S.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Alfred P. Sloan School of Management. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND DEWEY. / Bibliography : leaves 140-144. / M.S.

Cable Franchise Fees and PEG Fees function as key resources to the longevity of local media. Critics of the fees suggest that revenue earned from them is misplaced, and/or misused. This research examines the budgets of twenty US cities to determine how much money cities are collecting from these fees and where these funds are spent in an attempt to determine if the actual usages of Franchise and PEG Fee revenue corresponds to their theoretical benefits.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Dept. of History, Dec. 2003. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

This dissertation contains three chapters that examine various behavioral responses to statutory tax policies. In the first chapter, I develop a framework to estimate the impact of the marriage tax on the likelihood of marriage that incorporates into one analysis all four distinct household alternatives: single, cohabit, married, and separated. This is in contrast to previous works that consider only one of three separate choices. Using data from the March CPS from 1989-1999, I estimate a bivariate probit model and find that the marriage tax has a small, but significant, effect on the likelihood of marriage. Furthermore, my results indicate that studies that do not include all four possible alternatives can overstate by as much as 200% the effect of the marriage tax on the likelihood of marriage. The second chapter considers the net distributional impact of the federal tax deduction for charitable donations. If itemizers, who tend to have higher income than non-itemizers, give to charities that provide goods that they directly use or benefit from (egoism), the government is essentially subsidizing the activities of the high-income donors. Conversely, if itemizers donate to organizations that benefit the needy (altruism), the tax deduction aids in a form of income redistribution. I estimate this tax responsiveness of giving using the Center on Philanthropy Panel Study (COPPS) module of the PSID in 2001 and 2003 for 11 types of charities. Donations by high income individuals to charities that benefit the poor are more price elastic than donations to charities that benefit themselves. I find evidence that the current tax deduction induces itemizers to donate more to charities that benefit the poor than they would have without the deduction. The third chapter estimates the economic incidence of the excise tax on tobacco. Using historical price and tax data from 1954-2005, I estimate what portion of the tax is shifted to consumers. I experiment with controls for border crossing and indoor smoking bans. I find that a 10-cent tax increase causes price to increase by 8 cents immediately and by 13 cents in the long run.

No description available.