The purpose of this thesis is see if national policies regarding aimed at combating climate change could work even if international ones, such as the Kyoto Protocol, are considered to fail. The question was if environmental policies could be included as an explanatory variable for the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC). The environmental polices of interest were the market-based instrument, environmental taxes.   First, the hypothesis whether or not Sweden fit the EKC theory is tested, and this proves to be the case when looking at the years 1800-1996. Second, a hypothesis was tested to see if environmental taxes can help decreasing carbon emission intensity further once a country has reached its turning point. Comparing Sweden to six other countries from the European Union show that this is the case, although environmental taxes must be one of many tools and cannot work alone.   The study shows that the role of taxes were significant, thus showing their importance for the work on climate change. It is also observed that national policies do work, while regional, or international, ones are harder to conduct. The importance of national policies is enhanced since they will be guiding countries when deciding whether or not to commit to international policies.

The modern capital structure theory attempts to determine an optimal capital structure on the maximum shareholder¡¦s wealth. In practice, it is very difficult to find an optimal capital structure. Nevertheless, the dynamic capital structure model can simulate an optimal capital structure by Monte Carlo approach. Therefore, this study begin at the opinion of sales revenue and modifies the model of Goldstein, Ju and Leland(1998). Firstly, using the model to simulate the optimality of capital structures about traditional and high-tech industries of Taiwan. Secondly, the impacts of industry characteristic¡Bfirm size¡Bgrowth¡Bprofitability¡Boperating risk and dividend policy on the optimal capital structure are also analyzed. Meanwhile, to investigate the effect of implementation of the integration of individual and corporate taxes on the firm value¡Bdividend policy and capital structure. There are some conclusions in this study. The simulate results indicate that the leverage ratio of traditional industry is higher than that of high-tech industry. Firm size and growth are positively associated with debt ratio. The profitability and dividend yield are negatively associated with debt ratio. But operating risk and debt ratio have curve relation. The traditional industry trends to optimal static capital structure strategy. But high-tech industry is toward optimal upward dynamic capital structure strategy. The higher corporate tax rate, the higher firm value is. The shareholder¡¦s individual tax rate and the tax rate on the retained earnings with firm value are negatively relation. So the extent of how tax reform affects firm value depends on the shareholder¡¦s individual tax rate. According to the model, debt ratio should decrease. The empirical result for the high technology industry has satisfied the theoretical prediction. However, the increase of the debt ratios of firms in the traditional industry indicates that industry framework is changed for higher equity cost. Therefore, the resource of firm funds will be by debt policy. Dividend payment will increase after the implementation of the integration of individual and corporate taxes. The more dividend pay out, the lower firm value is. So it consists with tax-effect hypothesis. Finally, this study derives the valuation model of dynamic capital structure. The simulate results are consistent with research hypothesis. That can advise managers to revise capital structure and to make dividend policy.

The announcement and implementation of the ¡§Common Rules of Local Tax Law¡¨ not only complement the local tax legislation but the local government can also apply the local tax legislation to increase the local financial resources and adjust the idea that the local government must rely on the subsidiary of the central government. Since the implementation of the ¡§Common Rules of Local Tax Law¡¨, local governments throughout all hierarchies in the country only proposed 12 local tax proposals which have been taken as ¡§references¡¨ by the Ministry of Finance. This is perceived that there is a gape between the current implementation of the ¡§Common Rules of Local Tax Law¡¨ and its conception especially the feasibility analysis of the ¡§Common Rules of Local Tax Law¡¨ implementation. As a result, the ¡§Common Rules of Local Tax Law¡¨ requires a further review and evaluation. The aim of this research is to study the new local taxes division situation of the local government after the Common Rules of the Local Tax Law was promulgated by the central government. There are four specific research topics: 1. comprehensively understand the local government¡¦s local taxes division according to the Common Rules of the Local Tax Law or the planning of the new local taxes division. 2. focus on the implementation of the Common Rules of the Local Tax Law of the local government to conduct a feasibility evaluation. 3. analyze the different viewpoints toward the feasibility of the ¡§Common Rules of the Local Tax Law¡¨ implementation and clarify the contextual relationship between the ¡§Common Rules of the Local Tax Law and its implementing environment. 4. summarize the local government¡¦s recommendation on the ¡§Common Rules of Local Tax Law. This study uses the research method including the literature survey method, secondary data analysis and questionnaire survey to obtain more objective research result. The findings of the research are as the followings: 1. the local government¡¦s perspectives toward the variable factor of the imposing (or not imposing) the new local tax will not vary with the ¡§tenure of the local government leader¡¨ but will significantly vary with the ¡§local government hierarchy¡¨, ¡§overall industry structure of the local government¡¨, ¡§whether the local government leader and the elected local representatives are the members of the same political party¡¨ and ¡§local governmental relationship¡¨. 2. the local government¡¦s perspectives toward the variable of the encouragement of new local tax imposition strategy and measure will not vary with ¡§local government hierarchy¡¨, ¡§overall industry structure of the local government¡¨, ¡§tenure of the local government leader¡¨, ¡§political party of the local government leader¡¨ , ¡§the political party of most of the elected local representatives and ¡§whether the local government leader and the elected local representatives are the members of the same political party¡¨ but will significantly vary with the ¡§local governmental relationship¡¨. Finally, this study provides recommendations according to the perspective of legislation, politic, administration, central government support and incentive based on the research results and the impact on the reform. It is hoped that the recommendations can be taken as references by local government for new local tax imposition as well as for future finance reformation.

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This dissertation consists of three essays investigating questions of politics and policy. The first essay proposes an index that assigns probabilities to all majority coalitions. This index takes as inputs the seat shares and policy positions of the parties represented in parliament. In addition to providing coalition probabilities, it has some desirable properties lacking from the commonly used concept of the minimum-connected winning coalition. In an empirical test, the proposed index slightly outperforms the predictions generated by this standard concept. Furthermore, the probabilities generated by the index are shown to be empirically meaningful. The second essay proposes a model of voter decision-making in proportional representation systems: ultra-rational strategic voters construct expectations of coalitions and policy outcomes based on expected seat distributions and attributed policy positions and vote to maximize their expected utility. The predictions of the model are examined using data from the Netherlands and successfully predict the voting behavior of significant numbers of voters. Nevertheless, other factors matter more than the strategic prediction. Three main take-aways follow: (1) At least to some extent, voters seem to take complex coalition considerations into account. (2) There is a need for large-scale qualitative studies about voter decision-making in proportional representation systems. (3) Narrowly defined strategic voting might matter less in proportional representation systems than in plurality systems. The third essay presents new data on effective corporate income tax rates in 85 countries in 2004. The data come from a survey, conducted jointly with the World Bank’s Doing Business unit and PricewaterhouseCoopers, of all taxes imposed on "the same" standardized mid-size domestic firm. In a cross-section of countries, the estimates of the effective corporate tax rate have a large adverse impact on aggregate investment, FDI, and entrepreneurial activity. Corporate tax rates are correlated with investment in manufacturing but not services, as well as with the size of the informal economy. The results are robust to the inclusion of many controls.

Master final work, 55 pages, 12 figures, 8 tables, 40 sources of literature, in Lithuanian language. The object of research – tax administration in State Tax Authority implementing integrated information systems. The objective of research is to identify the main problems of implementation of integrated information systems of taxes and to present suggestions for its solving. The main tasks are solved: 1) to determine the objectives and principles of Lithuania and EU tax harmonization; 2) to determine the necessity of harmonization of taxes; 3) to determine the objectives and tasks of administration of taxes and its compatibility with the Europe Council directives; 4) to identify the changes of tax administration and the problems of implementation of integrated informative systems of taxes that are established in State Tax Authority and the ways of the problems solving. Research methods. In order to achieve the objective, logical analysis and synthesis, comparable analysis, the analysis of juridical documents and statistical data, the analysis of STA projects of informational systems were done; the methodics of prognostication of transactions efficiency (developed by T.Magyla and V. Bagdonas) and Pareto method were applied. The author contributed with the employees of the Department of International Information Change of Ministry of Finance doing this research. Besides, part of information was collected in the inside Intranet network of STA.

Mokesčių politika turi lemiamą vaidmenį tiek atskiriems ūkio subjektams, verslo plėtrai, tiek valstybės ekonomikai. Verslo išvystymas yra grindžiamas mokesčių sistemos reforma. Norint sukurti efektyvią mokesčių politiką, būtini ekonominiai ūkinių subjektų tyrimai. Magistro darbe atlikta Lietuvos pagrindinių verslo mokesčių analizė, palygintos mokesčių sistemos pokyčiai ir tendencijos Europos Sąjungos šalyse. Pasitelkus horizontalios ir vertikalios finansinės analizės būdus, įvertinta 2002 – 2006 metų AB“Mažeikių nafta“ ūkinė - komercinė veikla, nustatyta pagrindinių verslo mokesčių našta įmonei. Panaudojant scenarijaus metodą, analizuota įmonės finansinė būklė, įvertinant prognozuojamas įvairias apmokestinimo strategijas. Išaiškinama kokia apmokestinimo strategija būtų naudingiausia įmonei. Patvirtinama autorės suformuota hipotezė, kad pasirinkta mokesčių politika daro tiesioginę įtaką įmonės veiklos efektyvumui bei konkurencingumui. / Tax policy has a significant influence over individual economic entities, investments and economy of the country. Business development is grounded on tax reforms. Thus, the development of an effective tax system calls for the study of business activities of the entities. The Master‘s Thesis contains the analysis of the major taxes applicable to the Lithuanian entities, the comparison of changes in tax system and the tendencies of the European Union countries. Using horizontal and vertical methods of financial analysis AB Mažeikių Nafta’s business-commercial activities of 2002-2006 were evaluated, the burden of the major taxes applicable to the Company identified. The analysis of the financial standing of the Company was performed using the scenario method taking into consideration the different forecasted taxation strategies. Finally it provides the most beneficial taxation strategy for the Company. The scientific research hypothesis of the author stating that the selected tax policy makes a direct influence to the efficiency and competitiveness of the Company activities was proved to be correct.

Bakalauro baigiamąjame darbe atskleidžiama tiesioginių mokesčių vieta Lietuvos mokesčių sistemoje, išskiriant mokesčių rūšis priskiriamas prie tiesioginių mokesčių grupės, nagrinėjami GPM, pelno mokesčio ir turto mokesčių (nekilnojamojo turto mokesčio, žemės mokesčio, paveldimo turto mokesčio) apmokestinimo instrumentarijai. Nagrinėjama nacionalinio biudžeto mokestinių pajamų struktūrą, dinamika 2006-2010 m., atskleidžiama pajamų iš tiesioginių mokesčių lyginamieji svoriai nacionalinio biudžeto mokestinių pajamų struktūroje. Atliktas pajamų iš GPM, pelno mokesčio, turto mokesčių tyrimas, kurio metu atskleidžiama pajamų iš GPM, pelno mokesčio, turto mokesčių dinamika 2006-2010 m. pajamų iš GPM, pelno mokesčio, turto mokesčių surinkimo plano vykdymas, įdentifikuoti veiksniai įtakojantys pajamų iš GPM, pelno mokesčio, turto mokesčių kitimo tendencijos, atskleistos pajamų iš GPM pagal apmokestinimo objektus, pajamų iš pelno mokesčio pagal įmonių rūšis ir pajamų iš turto mokesčių pagal mokesčių rūšis kitimo tendencijos. Taip pat įdentifikuotos pajamų iš tiesioginių mokesčių didinimo galimybės. / Bachelor of baigiamąjame disclosure of direct taxes in the work of the tax system, excluding tax type assigned to direct tax group, deal with gpm, corporation tax and wealth tax (real estate tax, tax, inheritance tax) instrumentarijai taxation. The national budget tax income structure, dynamics 2006-2010, disclosed the revenue from direct taxes weighting national budget of tax revenue. A revenue from gpm, income tax, wealth tax trial, disclosed the revenue from gpm, income tax, wealth tax dynamics 2006-2010. revenue from gpm of income tax, wealth tax collection plan execution, įdentifikuoti factors contributing to income from gpm, income tax, wealth tax trends, disclosed the taxation of income from gpm objects, revenue from income tax by the undertakings and the types of property income tax by tax type trends. Also įdentifikuotos revenue from direct tax increases.

Netiesioginiu mokesčių harmonizavimo proceso įtaka yra aktualiausia visuomenei. Harmonizavimo pasekmės įtakoja vartojimo išlaidas, lemia kainų didėjimą. Lietuvoje taikomi netiesioginių mokesčių tarifai yra derinami su Europos Sąjungoje taikomais minimaliais tarifais. Šio darbo autorius nagrinėja netiesioginių mokesčių harmonizavimo procesą Lietuvoje bei Europos Sąjungoje. Pagrindinis dėmesys skirtas harmonizavimo proceso poveikio namų ūkiams analizei. Palyginti taikomi PVM tarifai ir lengvatos valstybėse narėse. Apibendrinti apmokestinimo akcizo mokesčių pasikeitimai, įstojus į Europos Sąjungą. Išanalizuoti alui, vynui, benzinui, cigarams ir cigarilėms taikomi akcizo mokesčio tarifai valstybėse narėse. Darbo pabaigoje pateiktos išvados ir pasiūlymai. Baigiamajame darbe buvo naudojami empiriniai tyrimo metodai: kontent analizė, tradicinė, dokumentų analizė. Gauti empiriniai tyrimo duomenys apibendrinti lyginimo ir analizės metodais. / The impact of indirect tax harmonization process is the most relevant aspect in respect to the society. Consequences of the harmonization are of the great effect to consumer's expenditures and it leads to an increase in prices. The tariffs of indirect taxes applied in Lithuania are harmonized in accordance with the minimal tariffs applied in the EU. The key aspect of the thesis is addressed towards the analysis of an effect of the harmonization on households.

Baigiamojo darbo temos aktualumą pagrindžia tai, jog valstybėje siekiant efektyvios bei sėkmingos mokesčių sistemos funkcionavimo, būtina ne tik teisės aktų pagrindu nustatyti mokesčius ir jų administravimą, tačiau taip pat ne mažiau svarbu tinkamai, racionaliai, atsižvelgiant į realią šalies ekonomikos būklę suplanuoti įplaukas į biudžetą. Šis baigiamasis darbas yra skirtas mokesčių paskirstymo į biudžetus bei fondus problemų analizei bei galimų šių problemų sprendimo variantų paieškai. Atitinkamai šiame darbe nagrinėjama mokesčių, jų administravimo, biudžeto, jo sistemos ir struktūros, fondų sąvokos, administruojamų mokesčių reikšmė biudžetų ir fondų įplaukoms, Lietuvos mokesčių administravimo ypatumų įtaka mokestinių pajamų surinkimui, atskirų mokesčių paskirstymo į biudžetus ir fondus ypatumai. Siekiant nuoseklaus iškelto tikslo siekimo, darbe, visų pirma, apibrėžiama mokesčių administravimo reikšmė biudžetų ir fondų įplaukoms, išnagrinėjama Lietuvos biudžeto sistema ir jos struktūra, aptariamos biudžetų ir nebiudžetinių fondų rūšys, o po to pateikiama atskirų mokesčių paskirstymo į valstybės biudžetą ir savivaldybių biudžetus ypatumų analizė. Atlikus teisės aktų, mokslinės literatūros bei Valstybinės mokesčių inspekcijos darbo rezultatų analizę, darbo pabaigoje prieita išvados, jog reformuojant esamus mokesčius, taupant ir efektyviai bei tikslingai panaudojant biudžeto lėšas galima būtų gerokai sumažinti mokesčių naštą, padidinti biudžeto pajamas ir pasiekti... [to full text] / The urgency of the theme the graduate thesis is based on presumption that seeking for efficient and successful functioning of tax system in the state it is necessary not only to establish taxes and administration therefore on the ground of legitimate acts, but also to plan duly and rationally the budget revenue taking a real state of country economy into consideration. The present graduate thesis is intended for making an analysis of problems related to appropriation of taxes into budgets and funds, and for search of possible variants to solve the problems. Thus the thesis contains examination of concepts such as taxes, administration thereof, budget, systems and structures thereof, funds, importance of being administrated taxes for proceeds to budgets and funds, influence of peculiarities of Lithuanian tax administration on collection of tax revenue, peculiarities of appropriation of individual tax to budgets and funds. In order to attain the sustained objective first of all the importance of tax administration in respect of budget and funds revenues is to be defined, the Lithuanian budget system and its structure is to be examined, types of budget and non-budget funds are to be discussed, then an analysis of peculiarities of appropriation of individual taxes into state budgets and municipal budgets is to be provided. Having made an analysis of legitimate act, research sources and results of activities of the State Tax Inspectorate, a conclusion is given in the end of the... [to full text]