Thesis--Columbia University. / Thesis statement on label mounted on t.p. Bibliography: p. 304-308.

Thesis (M.Econ.St.) - University of Queensland, 2004. / Includes bibliography.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison. / Typescript (photocopy). eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (p. 193-197).

Thesis--Helsingfors. / "Lähdeviittauksisaa käytetyt lyhennykset": p. [266]-274.

Thesis (M.U.D.)--University of Hong Kong, 1995. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available in print.

Thesis (M.U.D.)--University of Hong Kong, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available in print.

Thesis (M.Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 81-86)

M.Comm. / The for-profit business must maximise owners' wealth over the long term. It is accomplished by legally structuring the lease to minimise tax liability. Accounting profits and tax liability arising from the lease are determined in different ways: different lease structures could result in similar accounting profits, but different tax liability. A lease's accounting profits may be preestimated with relative certainty, but it's difficult to pre-estimate its tax liability. It's especially difficult with long-term leases that stretch over a number of accounting periods and tax years. There isn't a specific framework with which tax liability arising from the lease of immovable property may be determined and minimised. This study focuses on determining and minimising income tax liability within the context of the leasing of immovable property in South Africa. The workings of the factors that give rise to the tax liability are distinguished. Different types oflease agreements, reflecting the commercial objectives, are identified. A framework is then constructed from these factors to simplizy determination of the tax liability, and to structure the lease so that tax liability may be reduced. The different types of lease agreements are imposed on the framework to subordinate the reduction of tax liability to the parties' commercial objectives.

The purpose of this thesis is two fold: first, to focus attention on the problems of urban expansion and the trend towards suburban living and secondly, to investigate a technique which could be used by semi-rural municipalities to control one of the problems of suburbanization, that of premature conversion of farm land to non-farm uses. Many techniques are presently used to control land use and urban development in municipalities in transition from a rural to an urban character, but generally, these techniques have failed to protect farm land from premature conversion to non-farm uses. The technique examined in this thesis is that of financial control as exercised through property taxation. After substantiating the increasing demand for land for urban uses, a brief examination of the forces which regulate the supply and demand of land is presented to aid the understanding of the principle of highest and best use as applied to competing land uses. This illustrates the cause for the premature conversion of farm land to non-farm uses. An examination is made of the conversion of farm land to non-farm uses with emphasis on premature conversion and the economic and social costs which arise from this conversion. In view of the increasing rate of conversion of farm land to non-farm uses and the costs which can be attributed to premature conversion of farm land, it becomes evident that a technique which will protect farm land from premature conversion should be implemented. By studying the ways and means currently available for the control of land use and land development by a public agency, it is found that the regulations do not protect farm land from premature conversion to non-farm uses. Since financial control of land use exercised through taxation is not used to any appreciable degree by municipal governments, the relationship of land use and property tax is studied. In this evaluation, particular attention is placed on the effect of property taxes on farm land. This leads to the conclusion that high property taxes can force land into a more intensive use. As a result of this conclusion, it is proposed that a reduction in farm property taxes would protect farm land from premature conversion to non-farm uses. Rather than use an arbitrary tax rate to lower farm taxes, the tax rate is related to the cost of services provided for farm property. Using 1961 data collected from The Corporation of The Township of Richmond, a 'rural-urban' municipality adjacent to the City of Vancouver in British Columbia, it is shown by apportioning the municipal revenues and expenditures to farm and non-farm property that a tax rate related to the cost of services provided for farm land would reduce the farm taxes. The reduction in taxes is then related to the farm land income, which is measured by farm land rental values, to determine the effect it would have in protecting farm land from premature conversion to non-farm uses. An analysis of the farm land income shows that the net return to farm land is comprised of tangible and intangible elements. The tangible or monetary return to the farm land is low when compared with the return available from other low risk investments. Thus, it appears that the intangible returns such as the value as a homesite, the possibility of a capital gain and the prestige of land ownership are greater than the economic returns. From this it is concluded that a reduction in farm taxes arising from relating the tax rate to the cost of services provided for farm property may, depending upon the taxation system, encourage farm land owners to keep their land in farm use, but would not protect farm land from premature conversion to non-farm uses. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

The tax on real property continues to be a major factor in the fiscal structure of municipal governments. Therefore, justice dictates that the impact of this tax be distributed equitably, however "equitable" may be defined by the legislative authority. This is an administrative problem. In many jurisdictions the administration is directed to distribute the tax impact on an ad valorem basis of current market value. Statistical measures have been devised in order to measure the uniformity of the assessment of current market values. The random variable is defined as the ratio of assessed value to actual sale price, and the sample is the result of property sales which occur under conditions which are circumscribed by the definition of market value. The estimated parameters are then used to make direct statistical inferences regarding the level and uniformity of assessment. These parameters are then compared to pre-selected standard parameters in order to judge the relative uniformity of the assessment roll. First, market generated sales do not produce a random sample of the assessment roll. Therefore, direct statistical inferences from the sample do not apply to the assessment roll. Second, it is demonstrated that the standard parameters are implicitly based on an assumption that the universe of assessment-sale price ratios is normally distributed. The results of empirical investigation upon the Vancouver assessment roll indicate that the normality assumption cannot be justified. Therefore, the pre-selected standards are useless as measures by which to judge the relative uniformity of an assessment roll. Two alternative measures of assessment quality are proposed. First, a binomial model based on correct and incorrect valuation is examined. Though this has some practicable possibilities, it cannot, without some important value judgements, be used to measure degrees of quality or uniformity. A second alternative is proposed in order to overcome the above limitation. The alternative suggests that a good assessment roll have assessment-market value ratios which are normally distributed, and that the actual distribution of assessment-sale price ratios be tested for "goodness-of-fit" to the ideal distribution. The test parameters can be transformed to probability levels which would measure the quality or uniformity of the assessment roll. This measure may indicate that a highly uniform assessment roll on which most of the properties are under-assessed is of lower quality than an assessment roll on which more properties are correctly assessed, but less uniformly assessed. Though it is unlikely that uniformity of assessment can be achieved without correct valuation, it cannot be held that an assessment roll on which more properties are correctly assessed is of higher quality of assessments than a roll on which most properties are under-assessed, if the uniformity of assessment on the former roll is not at least as high as the uniformity of assessment on the latter roll. Since the measures of assessment quality and uniformity examined are not satisfactory, it is concluded that statistical analysis in assessment administration may be more usefully applied to the analysis of the causes of assessment errors than to the measurement of the number and size of the errors. / Business, Sauder School of / Graduate