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Administrative Decentralization And Tax Compliance: A Transactional Cost Perspective, Wei Cui
Administrative Decentralization And Tax Compliance: A Transactional Cost Perspective, Wei Cui
All Faculty Publications
A common phenomenon in tax administration in developing countries is that tax is collected not according to the rules of law but according to informal agreements between taxpayers and tax collectors. This article offers a novel explanation of this phenomenon in the Chinese context in terms of administrative decentralization. Administrative decentralization is defined as the concentration of government functions at the lowest ranks of a geographically-dispersed bureaucracy. Decentralization increases communication costs associated with the implementation of law, and changes the structure of taxpayers’ costs in obtaining knowledge about the law. As a result, a “semi-compliant” type of behavior, involving many …
China's Business-Tax-To-Vat Reform: An Interim Assessment, Wei Cui
China's Business-Tax-To-Vat Reform: An Interim Assessment, Wei Cui
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The reform to replace the Business Tax (BT) with the VAT is the largest tax reform initiative in China since 1994. This article assesses the first two years of the reform from a tax policy perspective. It shows that the government has tried to preempt resistance to reform through highly unusual tax design and by allowing local governments to retain revenue from pilot sectors. The VAT for pilot sectors is characterized by two new reduced rates that apply to a wide range of business-to-business transactions as well as consumer services (such as internet and mobile data services) not generally regarded …
Taxing Indirect Transfers: Improving An Instrument For Stemming Tax And Legal Base Erosion, Wei Cui
Taxing Indirect Transfers: Improving An Instrument For Stemming Tax And Legal Base Erosion, Wei Cui
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Numerous countries (e.g. Canada, Australia and Japan) tax foreigners on the gain realized on their transfers of interests in foreign entities that invest in real estates in these countries. In the last few years, actions taken by tax authorities in India, China, Brazil, Indonesia and other non-OECD countries have highlighted the possibility of taxing a broader range of “indirect transfers” by foreigners. This Article argues taxing indirect transfers can have vital policy significance in countries where foreign inbound investments are actively traded in offshore markets: it may not only deter tax avoidance, but also stanch “legal base erosion” — the …