Uncertainty, Welfare Cost, and the "adaptability" of U.S. Corporate Taxes

Uncertainty, Welfare Cost, and the Author: Don Fullerton
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Corporations
Languages : en
Pages : 36

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Book Description
Alternative corporate tax systems differ in their ability to adapt to changes in the rate of inflation. Absent complete indexing of depreciation allowances, a tax system may use the expected inflation rate to set accelerated depreciation allowances in a way that minimizes the welfare loss from them is allocation of capital. This welfare loss is a nonlinear function of the assumed inflation rate, however, so the welfare loss at the expected inflation rate may be quite different from the expected welfare loss. We compute these two welfare concepts for each of three alternative corporate tax schemes in the U.S. and for two different relationships between inflation and interest rates. One important finding is that the Auerbach-Jorgenson first year recovery plan is not equivalent to indexing as is often claimed, if uncertainty about inflation implies uncertainty about the real after-tax discount rate.

Uncertainty, Welfare Cost, and the "adaptability" of U.S. Corporate Taxes

Uncertainty, Welfare Cost, and the Author: Don Fullerton
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Corporations
Languages : en
Pages : 36

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Book Description
Alternative corporate tax systems differ in their ability to adapt to changes in the rate of inflation. Absent complete indexing of depreciation allowances, a tax system may use the expected inflation rate to set accelerated depreciation allowances in a way that minimizes the welfare loss from them is allocation of capital. This welfare loss is a nonlinear function of the assumed inflation rate, however, so the welfare loss at the expected inflation rate may be quite different from the expected welfare loss. We compute these two welfare concepts for each of three alternative corporate tax schemes in the U.S. and for two different relationships between inflation and interest rates. One important finding is that the Auerbach-Jorgenson first year recovery plan is not equivalent to indexing as is often claimed, if uncertainty about inflation implies uncertainty about the real after-tax discount rate.

Limits and Problems of Taxation

Limits and Problems of Taxation PDF Author: Finn R. Forsund
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1349080942
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 207

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Book Description
This volume brings together a number of new studies concerned with some of the topical problems of taxation. In Part I, limits of taxation are considered from the viewpoint of normative tax theory, its relation to the 'hidden' economy, and in terms of empirical estimates of the effects of taxes. Part II contains three theoretical studies which extend the theory of income taxation and redistribution. Part III deals with the corporate tax and contains both theoretical and empirical contributions. In conclusion, Part IV is devoted to two analyses of alternatives to income and corporate taxation. The authors represent a number of different countries and viewpoints.

NBER Reporter

NBER Reporter PDF Author: National Bureau of Economic Research
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 816

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Book Description


Global Trends 2040

Global Trends 2040 PDF Author: National Intelligence Council
Publisher: Cosimo Reports
ISBN: 9781646794973
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 158

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Book Description
"The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic marks the most significant, singular global disruption since World War II, with health, economic, political, and security implications that will ripple for years to come." -Global Trends 2040 (2021) Global Trends 2040-A More Contested World (2021), released by the US National Intelligence Council, is the latest report in its series of reports starting in 1997 about megatrends and the world's future. This report, strongly influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, paints a bleak picture of the future and describes a contested, fragmented and turbulent world. It specifically discusses the four main trends that will shape tomorrow's world: - Demographics-by 2040, 1.4 billion people will be added mostly in Africa and South Asia. - Economics-increased government debt and concentrated economic power will escalate problems for the poor and middleclass. - Climate-a hotter world will increase water, food, and health insecurity. - Technology-the emergence of new technologies could both solve and cause problems for human life. Students of trends, policymakers, entrepreneurs, academics, journalists and anyone eager for a glimpse into the next decades, will find this report, with colored graphs, essential reading.

Tax Neutrality and Intangible Capital

Tax Neutrality and Intangible Capital PDF Author: Don Fullerton
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Capital
Languages : en
Pages : 58

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Book Description
Many studies measure capital stocks and effective tax rates for different industries, but they consider only tangible assets such as equipment, structures, inventories, and land. Some of these studies also have estimated that the welfare cost of tax differences among these assets under prior law is about $10 billion per year or 13 percent of all corporate income tax revenue. Since the investment tax credit was available only for equipment, its repeal raises the effective rate of taxation of equipment toward that of other assets and virtually eliminates this welfare cost. However, firms also own intangible assets such as trademarks, copyrights, patents, a good reputation, or general production expertise. This paper provides alternative measures of the intangible capital stock, and it investigates implications for distortions caused by taxes. The existence of intangible capital markedly alters welfare cost calculations. Investments in advertising and R&D are expensed, so the effective rate of tax on these assets is less than that on equipment under prior law. With large differences between these assets and other tangible assets, we find that the welfare cost measure under prior law increases to $13 billion per year. Repeal of the investment credit taxes equipment more like other tangible assets but less like intangible assets. The welfare cost still falls, to about $7 billion per year, but it is no longer "virtually eliminated." With additional sources of intangible capital, credit repeal could actually increase welfare costs. Finally, however, the Tax Reform Act of 1986 not only repeals the investment tax credit but reduces rates as well. Efficiency always increases in this model because the taxation of tangible assets is reduced toward that of intangible assets.

Trading and the Tax Shelter Value of Depreciable Real Estate

Trading and the Tax Shelter Value of Depreciable Real Estate PDF Author: Patric H. Hendershott
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Real property and taxation
Languages : en
Pages : 38

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Book Description
For well-diversified investors in depreciable real estate, the trading decision may be made with the sole objective of maximizing the property's depreciation tax shelter net of all capital gain taxes and transaction costs. This paper develops a dynamic programming model in which the optimal trading strategies and depreciation methods of all investors in a property are simultaneously determined. The effects of inflation, depreciation, recapture and choice of depreciation method are analyzed, and the costs of suboptimal trading are measured. The model is applied to both conventional residential and commercial income properties under post-ERTA tax rules. At single digitinflation rates, properties are traded multiple times, and the costs of suboptimal trading are significant.

Incentive Effects of Taxes on Income from Capital

Incentive Effects of Taxes on Income from Capital PDF Author: Don Fullerton
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Fiscal policy
Languages : en
Pages : 88

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Book Description
In this paper, we evaluate existing tax law as of 1980, President Reagan's tax reform initiatives as enacted in the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981 (ERTA) and the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982 (TEFRA), as well as other proposals that were not enacted. For each law, we measure marginal effective total tax rates for capital in the corporate sector, the noncorporate sector, and the owner-occupied housing sector. These rates include taxation under the corporate income tax, the personal income tax, and property taxes, in order to capture the full distortion of individuals' choices between present and future consumption as well as the distortions in the choice of investment. Effective tax rates in 1980 were perceived as high in the corporate sector, at least partly because of inflation, and especially when compared to the tax-free treatment of imputed rents from owner-occupied housing. In contrast, we find that (1) the total effective tax rate in the corporate sector was only 35 percent, about half of the rate in some previous estimates; (2) the total effective tax in the noncorporate sector was 36 percent, higher than in the corporate sector; (3) the total effective tax in owner-occupied housing was 19 percent, because of a higher relative property tax rate; and (4) under either 1980 or 1982 law, the marginal effective total tax rate does not rise with inflation in any sector or for the economy as a whole. By 1982 the rate in the corporate sector fell to 30 percent, by more than in other sectors.

Trade and Structural Adjustment in the U.S. Economy

Trade and Structural Adjustment in the U.S. Economy PDF Author: William H. Branson
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Competition, International
Languages : en
Pages : 44

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Book Description


Tariffs, Subsidies, and Welfare with Endogenous Policy

Tariffs, Subsidies, and Welfare with Endogenous Policy PDF Author: Dani Rodrik
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Commercial policy
Languages : en
Pages : 78

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Book Description


Taxation and the Location of U.S. Investment Abroad

Taxation and the Location of U.S. Investment Abroad PDF Author: Daniel J. Frisch
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Corporations, American
Languages : en
Pages : 54

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Book Description
Tax policy toward the overseas income of U.S. firms is an important issue since foreign investment accounts for a sizabLe fraction of total investment by U.S. firms. At present there is no consensus on the degree to which U.S. firms respond to tax incentives when making international investment decisions. This paper seeks to shed light on this issue. Because the tax systems of (at least) two countries are involved,the specification of tax incentives is far from trivial. For example, U.S.treatment is based on the foreign tax credit mechanism. In its purest form,this mechanism would insure that the net tax rate on all income of U.S. firms would be equal to the U.S. rate, rendering the tax rates in the host countries irrelevant. In fact, actual U.S. tax practice is far removed from an idealized foreign tax credit mechanism. For instance the U.S. tax is not collected until income is repatriated from abroad; section I points out that deferral changes the incentive effects in fundamental ways. Foreign income tax rates definitely do matter in theory; in fact, they may be of overriding importance.The remainder of the paper seeks to test these theoretical considerations. First,we describe the cross-section data that were collected for this purpose. Then, we report the result that U.S. firms respond to net rates of return in general and to properly specified tax rates in particular.