This paper presents revised tax ratios based on more realistic assumptions than those used in a previous study applying the same approach (based on tax revenue statistics and national accounts data) to measuring the effective tax burden. Although the levels of the revised tax ratios are sometimes quite different from those previously found, the two data sets are generally highly correlated. The paper also presents a sensitivity analysis of relaxing some remaining unrealistic assumptions for countries and periods where that is possible. It is found that this often has a large effect on the tax ratios, especially for capital, and the two data sets are sometimes no longer highly correlated. This highlights the need to use these ratios in conjunction with other indicators, such as average effective tax rates, to corroborate the story they tell.

96040 Document complet disponible sur OLIS dans son format d'origineComplete document available on OLIS in its original format ECO/WKP(2000)31 2 ABSTRACT/RÉSUMÉ Over the past 15 years, tax reforms have profoundly changed the shape of OECD tax systems and rekindled interest in measuring effective tax burdens. Indeed, in order to understand past reforms or to evaluate the tax policies of particular countries, it is necessary to go beyond statutory rates since these sometimes bear little relation to rates actually paid. This paper updates and extends the Mendoza et al. estimates of average effective tax rates (AETRs) and presents new estimates based on modifications to the methodology to make some of the underlying assumptions more realistic. In particular, the assumption that all income from self-employment is capital income is dropped in favour of assuming that the self-employed earn both labour and capital income. This change raises estimates of the AETR on capital and reduces the estimated AETR on labour but does not alter the trends observed in the updated Mendoza et al. estimates. Both sets of estimates show that, on average, the relative tax burden has shifted towards labour in OECD countries since the early 1980s. Considerable caution is required when interpreting AETRs as the methodology is subject to a number of limitations, not the least of which result from the difficulty of splitting income tax between capital and labour. Whether for individual countries or for the OECD as a whole, estimates of average effective tax rates should not be used as a basis for policy decisions without more broadly based analysis and corroborating data, including micro-data. Moreover, it should not be forgotten that the initial impact of taxes (between capital, labour and consumption) captured by these indicators may not coincide with final incidence. JEL code: H22, H87, H89Keywords: Average effective tax rates, tax ratios, implicit tax rates ***** Au cours des quinze dernières années, diverses réformes ont profondément modifié la structure des systèmes fiscaux des pays de l'OCDE et ravivé l'intérêt pour une mesure de la charge fiscale effective. De fait, pour comprendre les réformes antérieures ou pour évaluer les politiques fiscales de certains pays, il est nécessaire d'aller au delà des taux statutaires, ceux-ci ayant parfois bien peu de relation avec ceux effectivement payés. Cet article actualise et étend les estimations des TIEM (taux d'imposition effectifs moyens) mis au point par Mendoza et al. et présente de nouvelles estimations fondées sur des modifications de la méthodologie visant à rendre plus réalistes certaines des hypothèses sous-jacentes. En particulier l'hypothèse selon laquelle l'ensemble des revenus des travailleurs indépendants doit être considéré comme revenu du capital est abandonnée en faveur d'une hypothèse selon laquelle les revenus des travailleurs indépendants représentent à la fois des revenus du travail et des revenus du capital. Ce changement augmente les estimations des TIEM sur le capital et...

Despite extensive literature both supporting and critiquing the Green Revolution, surprisingly little attention has been paid to synthetic fertilizers' health and environmental effects or indigenous farmers' perspectives. The introduction of agrochemicals in the mid-twentieth century was a watershed event for many Mayan farmers in Guatemala. While some Maya hailed synthetic fertilizers' immediate effectiveness as a relief from famines and migrant labor, other lamented the long-term deterioration of their public health, soil quality, and economic autonomy. Since the rising cost of agrochemicals compelled Maya to return to plantation labor in the 1970s, synthetic fertilizers simply shifted, rather than alleviated, Mayan dependency on the cash economy. By highlighting Mayan farmers' historical narratives and delineating the relationship between agricultural science and postwar geopolitics, the constraints on agriculturists' agency become clear. In the end, politics, more than technology or agricultural performance, influenced guatemala's shift toward the Green Revolution.

In a nation that often silences them, Maya in Guatemala are increasingly expressing themselves through public murals. When teachers, artists, students, and other residents of San Juan Comalapa painted the history of their nation, town, and people, they portrayed resistance, accommodation, and collaboration. The persistence of Mayan markers throughout the images stands as a reminder that Maya-Kaqchikel are not simply reinventing a sense of nation with murals; rather, they have been reclaiming the nation at every step in its long, often harsh history. For the recent past, the images depict Guatemala's civil war (1960-96), the poverty and racism that were among its causes, and Kaqchikel responses to violence and economic injustice. Based on local Kaqchikel interpretations of history, the murals serve multiple purposes for Comalapenses: local historical representations of the past, critiques of the government and of themselves, expressions of community creativity, mobilizations of development aid funds, and a source of civic pride. This essay considers these multiple purposes: first, by culturally and historically contextualizing the murals as a distinct Comalapa tradition; and second, by placing the murals in dialogue with the state and with Comalapenses who think about the past and critique the murals themselves.

Some of the factors involved in the design of a radar pulse compression system are discussed. These include the compression ratio, the detailed characteristics of the signal, the sidelobe level of the receiver output waveform (signal autocorrelation function), the sensitivity of the sidelobe level to Doppler frequency shift in the signal, and the relative complexity of the equipment required to generate and receive the signal. A signal of Gaussian envelope and linear frequency modulation is shown to have an autocorrelation function of Gaussian shape. When the receiver is designed to autocorrelate the linear FM Gaussian signal, it is shown that the shape of the receiver output waveform does not change when the input signal has a Doppler frequency shift. The design and construction of equipment used to generate and receive the signal are discussed. In operating equipment with a compression ratio of about 50 to one, sidelobe levels 40 db below the peak amplitude of the receiver output waveform are achieved, and the shape of the receiver output waveform does not change appreciably until the Doppler frequency shift exceeds 25 per cent of the 3-db signal bandwidth.