This study examines the determinants of internal migration in Spain. It pays close attention to a key variable that has been little studied so far, taxes. That is, we analyze whether the difference in taxes between the autonomous communities of Spain is a determining factor for Spanish citizens when deciding to move. In addition to taxes, other determinants such as GDP, geographical distance between regions, unemployment and amenities are also analysed. The study is based on the theory of Gravity model and Pooled OLS and fixed effects specifications are used. The findings reveal that the tax effort has a positive effect on migration, but its magnitude is small.

無 / The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of fiscal decentralization on the tax effort of China’s local government after the Fiscal Reform was implemented in 1994. This study defines the tax effort as the ratio of the tax revenue of local government to its tax capacity, which is measured by per capita income, GRP (gross regional product), TTR (total taxable resources) and RTS/R (the representative tax system with regression analysis). Using official panel data for 31 provinces/cities during the 1996-2004 period and the two-way fixed effects model with different tax effort indices as the dependent variable, the primary finding of this study is that fiscal decentralization has a statistically significant and positive influence on the local government tax effort in China after 1994. That is to say, a local government with a higher degree of fiscal autonomy might put more effort into tax collection than its counterparts with a lower degree of fiscal autonomy.

nÃo hà / Este trabalho apresenta estimativas para o Ãndice de EsforÃo Fiscal â IEF dos municÃpios paraibanos nos anos de 2007 e 2009. O IEF à a razÃo entre a arrecadaÃÃo prÃpria efetiva dos municÃpios e a arrecadaÃÃo potencial que à estimada por meio dos parÃmetros de uma regressÃo cross-section, que inclui vÃrios fatores econÃmicos, institucionais e localizacionais como preditores da receita prÃ-pria dos municÃpios. Em linha com outros estudos, os modelos estimados demonstram que hà desincentivo da arrecadaÃÃo prÃpria dos municÃpios em funÃÃo do aumento das receitas de transferÃncias intergovernamentais. Comparando os Ãndices de eficiÃncia estimados, o municÃpio de Santa Rita monstrou-se o municÃpio mais eficiente nos dois anos analisados, arrecadando por volta de 185% de sua capacidade fiscal estimada em 2009. Por outro lado, um dos destaques negativos à a capital do Estado, JoÃo Pessoa, que em 2009 arrecadou apenas 40% de sua capacidade fiscal estimada. / This paper presents estimates for the Fiscal Stress Index - IEF municipalities of ParaÃba in the years 2007 and 2009. The IEF is the ratio of own tax revenues of municipalities and effective storage potential that is estimated by the parameters of a cross-section regression, which includes various economic factors, institutional and locational as predictors of own revenue of municipalities. In line with other studies, the estimated models show that there is a disincentive of own tax revenues of municipalities due to the increase in revenues from intergovernmental transfers. Comparing the efficiency ratios estimated, the municipality of Santa Rita demonstrated to be the more efficient in the two years analyzed, raising around 185% capacity in 2009 estimated tax. On the other hand, a key negative is the state capital, JoÃo Pessoa, that in 2009 earned only 40% of their estimated fiscal capacity.

CoordenaÃÃo de AperfeÃoamento de Pessoal de NÃvel Superior / Esta dissertaÃÃo à composta por dois artigos, que estÃo dispostos em capÃtulos, nos quais foram utilizados metodologias e bancos de dados diferentes. No primeiro capÃtulo, intitulado âMensuraÃÃo da Capacidade e EsforÃo Fiscal dos MunicÃpios do Nordeste Brasileiro: uma AnÃlise de Fronteira EstocÃsticaâ, a partir de dados anuais, no perÃodo de 2001 a 2012, tem como objetivo mensurar a capacidade e esforÃo fiscal municipal, por meio da metodologia de Fronteira EstocÃstica, modelo de Battese e Coelli (1995). A partir dos resultados encontrados, tem-se que todas as variÃveis selecionadas â populaÃÃo, estabelecimentos de serviÃos declarantes, nÃmero de trabalhadores com vÃnculo empregatÃcio em empresas de serviÃos e o valor adicionado de serviÃos - tiveram impactos positivos sobre a arrecadaÃÃo fiscal.Por sua vez, os investimentos pÃblicos municipais e a inflaÃÃo anual reduziram a ineficiÃncia da arrecadaÃÃo tributÃria. Este resultado,relativamente à inflaÃÃo, configura o efeito parecido com o denominado Tanzi Ãs Avessas, uma vez que ocorreu crescimento da inflaÃÃo e da arrecadaÃÃo tributÃria concomitantemente.Com relaÃÃo ao esforÃo fiscal, o valor mÃdio dos MunicÃpios do Nordeste brasileiro, para o perÃodo de estudo, à de 0,83, indicando que estes, possivelmente, encontram-se prÃximos da Fronteira de arrecadaÃÃo tributÃria. No segundo capÃtulo, intitulado âEndividamento PÃblico: Uma AnÃlise EmpÃrica dos MunicÃpios de MÃdio e Grande Porte do Brasilâ, a partir de dados anuais, no perÃodo de 2006 a 2012, tem como objetivo mensurar o nÃvel de endividamento dos MunicÃpios com populaÃÃo a cima de 100 mil habitantes, a partir do modelo de Painel. Seus resultados mostram que as variÃveis grau de dependÃncia das transferÃncias, gastos com pessoal, dummy referente ao limite de endividamento e a escolaridade do prefeito, obtiveram impactos positivos com relaÃÃo ao endividamento. A variÃvel PIB per capta obteve resultado negativo sobre a mesma, sendo todos os resultados esperados, exceto para a escolaridade do prefeito, onde esperava-se que obtivesse um impacto negativo sobre o nÃvel de endividamento, de acordo com os anos de estudos. / This work includes two papers of mine, which are outlined in the manner of separate chapters and which are supported by distinct methodologies as well, on quantifying fiscal competence and tax effort due the municipalities from northeastern Brazil during 2001 to 2012 and on their public debts. They might reveal something about my motivations: following Battese and Coelli (1995) the first sketches the fundamentals concern fiscal competence attached to the intended municipalities and it makes use of economic modeling called Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA). Hence, working in plain vanilla SFA we show that all the variables we are considering, that is, population, reporting service, workers officially engaged in companies and valued over services stand in a positive relation to the tax revenues. Regrettably, the results also show that the municipality investments and inflation for each year have reduced the inefficiency concerning tax revenue which is due probably to the well-known Tanzi backwards effect. In addition, near to the tax revenue frontier the tax effort of the mean value of municipalities in northeastern Brazil is 0.83. By means of Panel data and with the aim of explaining the precise measure of public debt produced by municipalities whose population is up to 100 thousand we proceed the second article, which uses basically the same insights from the first one. Once we know that all the variables we are considering had a positive striking on the debt, all the other results were expected, including the negative impact on the GDP. However, what is actually surprising has to do with the formation of the mayor, we thought this would have promptly negative impact on the debt, but the results were otherwise.

This study analyzes the financial viability of municipalities in Sergipe. With the Federal Constitution of 1988, Brazil went through a fiscal decentralization and the municipalities increased their participation in tax collections. These increases have not guaranteed improvements in public services provided to the population. The objective of this paper is to see which municipalities do not have financial viability to remain independent. Five criteria were adopted to verify the feasibility of the municipalities: minimum number of inhabitants, number of existing homes, positive balance on the difference between revenues and expenditures, tax effort and the centrality of the municipality. The idea of annexations of municipalities comes at a time when the municipal administrators complain about the financial crisis affecting their economies and the pressure on the Federal Government to increase the transfers made, such as the Municipal Participation Fund or renegotiate existing debts. With annexations, it would be possible to invest more resources in areas that directly affect the local population, such as health and education. Besides the saving produced with the Executive Branch, these annexations would also cause a reduction in the number of legislative chambers, which in Brazil are often at the services of the Head of the Executive Branch. This would generate savings in 2010 alone, an amount of R$ 69,076,861.89. After the annexation, there would be a reduction in the number of municipalities in Sergipe, from the current 75 municipalities, the state would have only 27. The result of this analysis demonstrates the significant amounts that could be applied in the improvement of services to the local population and presenting, as an important point, no need for an increase in municipal public expenditure or increase in transfers from the federal and state governments. / O presente estudo faz uma análise da viabilidade financeira dos municípios sergipanos. Com a Constituição Federal de 1988, o Brasil passou por uma descentralização fiscal e os municípios brasileiros aumentaram sua participação nas arrecadações tributárias. Esses aumentos não garantiram melhorias nos serviços públicos prestados à população. O objetivo do trabalho é verificar quais municípios não possuem viabilidade financeira para permanecerem independentes. Foram adotados cinco critérios para verificar a viabilidade dos municípios: número mínimo de habitantes, quantidade de domicílios existentes, saldo positivo na diferença entre receitas e despesas, esforço fiscal e a centralidade do município. A ideia de anexação de municípios surge num momento em que os gestores públicos municipais reclamam da crise financeira que afeta sua economia e pressionam o Governo Federal para aumentar os repasses realizados, como é o caso do Fundo de Participação Municipal, ou renegociar as dívidas existentes. Com as anexações, seria possível investir mais recursos nas áreas que afetam diretamente a população local, como, por exemplo, a saúde e a educação. Além da economia gerada com o Poder Executivo, as anexações também provocariam a redução no número de câmaras legislativas, que no Brasil muitas vezes estão a serviços do Chefe do Executivo. Essa economia geraria, só em 2010, um valor de R$ 69.076.861,89. Após as anexações, haveria uma redução no número de municípios em Sergipe, dos atuais 75 municípios, o estado passaria a ter apenas 27. O resultado dessa análise demonstra os vultosos valores que poderiam ser empregados na melhoria dos serviços prestados à população local e apresentando como um ponto importante, a desnecessidade de aumento da despesa pública municipal ou aumento das transferências dos governos Federal e estaduais.

The design of a country’s tax system is important because of the critical role played by taxation in financing public spending towards economic and social development. In this regard, there is need to enhance the understanding of whether current tax systems in the SADC provide sufficient tax revenue to meet public spending needs. This study provides empirical evidence on the outcomes of existing tax systems in the SADC with the aim of offering a basis for normative evaluation of the regions’ tax policies. Literature posits that there are numerous economic and institutional factors that limit the amount of taxes that a country can actually raise. Against this background, the substantive aim of this study was to assess the determinants of tax capacity and tax effort in the SADC in view of providing a pragmatic approach to tax policy design. The methodology of this study involved the use of both quantitative and qualitative analysis (mixed methods approach) where the latter was used to augment the findings of the former. The first phase involved the use of a multi-step procedure to estimate determinants of tax capacity and tax effort using stochastic tax function and unbalanced panel data for 13 SADC countries. The study disentangled the error term to estimates the random-effects separately from tax effort in order to capture the time- invariant country-specific effects. Further, tax effort was classified persistent (long-run) and transient (short-run). The study was able to estimate the determinants of tax effort and to rank each member state according to its tax effort. The second phase involves a narrative analysis of tax legislation in the SADC over the period 2002-2016. The study used budget statements and Acts of parliament as the major sources of information to identify significant changes in tax legislation over this period. The findings of the quantitative analysis indicate that financial deepening, economic development and trade openness influence tax capacity, while corruption and inflation influence tax effort. In addition, the findings show that the region has low persistent tax effort than transient tax effort, implying that improving tax administration has superseded tax policy reforms. This result is augmented by the narrative record which seemingly shows that tax legislation efforts were largely successful in tax administration but rather limited in view of tax policy. In this regard, the study recommends that tax policy design should be informed by the conditions of a country and policy considerations relating to peculiar circumstances to obtain robust tax policies. / Economics / D. Com. (Economics)

During August 2008 commissioners, senior tax administrators and policy makers from 28 African countries attended the International Conference on Taxation, State Building and Capacity Development in Africa. The objective of the conference had been to investigate how African countries can improve their resource mobilization, thereby decreasing Africa’s reliance on foreign aid, improving the fiscal independence of African countries and improving the living conditions of their citizens. It was identified during the conference that African countries can improve their resource mobilization through an improvement of their existing taxation structures. An improvement in existing taxation structures could in turn be achieved through improved sharing of information between African tax authorities on their tax structures currently in place, as well as the habits of their respective taxpayers. In order to facilitate the improved sharing of information, as well as to better equip African Tax Administrations for the task at hand, the African Tax Administration Forum (ATAF) was formed. The aim of this research is to determine whether any progress has been made regarding tax administration reform by African countries following the Conference on Taxation, State Building and Capacity Development in Africa, during the period 2008 to 2012. This has been determined by evaluating the structures of the ATAF and the activities implemented by the ATAF during the period 2008 to 2012 to meet its initial strategic objectives. Secondly, African countries that were previously members of SADC, and have since become members of the ATAF as well, were evaluated in order to determine whether the countries in question have implemented tax administration and governance reforms during the period 2008 to 2012, which have led to an improvement in the tax administration and governance structures of the countries in question. Furthermore, an evaluation was performed as to whether the improvements have led to an improvement in the fiscal independence and humanitarian conditions of the countries in question, during the period 2008 to 2012. The conclusion arrived at reveals that the ATAF has implemented several activities during the period 2008 to 2012, to meet its initial strategic objectives. Furthermore, all the analysed African countries have improved their tax administration structures during the period 2008 to 2012. Unfortunately, not all the countries analysed have been able to improve their governance structures during the period 2008 to 2012 as well. However, where a country has been able to improve both its tax administration and governance structures during the period 2008 to 2012, its fiscal independence and humanitarian conditions have also improved during the period 2008 to 2012. / MCom (South African and International Taxation), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

During August 2008 commissioners, senior tax administrators and policy makers from 28 African countries attended the International Conference on Taxation, State Building and Capacity Development in Africa. The objective of the conference had been to investigate how African countries can improve their resource mobilization, thereby decreasing Africa’s reliance on foreign aid, improving the fiscal independence of African countries and improving the living conditions of their citizens. It was identified during the conference that African countries can improve their resource mobilization through an improvement of their existing taxation structures. An improvement in existing taxation structures could in turn be achieved through improved sharing of information between African tax authorities on their tax structures currently in place, as well as the habits of their respective taxpayers. In order to facilitate the improved sharing of information, as well as to better equip African Tax Administrations for the task at hand, the African Tax Administration Forum (ATAF) was formed. The aim of this research is to determine whether any progress has been made regarding tax administration reform by African countries following the Conference on Taxation, State Building and Capacity Development in Africa, during the period 2008 to 2012. This has been determined by evaluating the structures of the ATAF and the activities implemented by the ATAF during the period 2008 to 2012 to meet its initial strategic objectives. Secondly, African countries that were previously members of SADC, and have since become members of the ATAF as well, were evaluated in order to determine whether the countries in question have implemented tax administration and governance reforms during the period 2008 to 2012, which have led to an improvement in the tax administration and governance structures of the countries in question. Furthermore, an evaluation was performed as to whether the improvements have led to an improvement in the fiscal independence and humanitarian conditions of the countries in question, during the period 2008 to 2012. The conclusion arrived at reveals that the ATAF has implemented several activities during the period 2008 to 2012, to meet its initial strategic objectives. Furthermore, all the analysed African countries have improved their tax administration structures during the period 2008 to 2012. Unfortunately, not all the countries analysed have been able to improve their governance structures during the period 2008 to 2012 as well. However, where a country has been able to improve both its tax administration and governance structures during the period 2008 to 2012, its fiscal independence and humanitarian conditions have also improved during the period 2008 to 2012. / MCom (South African and International Taxation), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014