An analysis of the revenue policy -making process of the Texas Legislature

The purpose of this dissertation was to develop a conceptual framework which can be used to account for policy decisions made by the House Ways and Means Committee (HW&MC) of the Texas House of Representatives. This analysis will examine the actions of the committee over a ten-year period with the goal of explaining and predicting the success of failure of certain efforts to raise revenue.^ The basis framework for modelling the revenue decision-making process includes three major components--the decision alternatives, the external factors and two competing contingency theories. The decision alternatives encompass the particular options available to increase tax revenue. The options were classified as non-innovative or innovative. The non-innovative options included the sales, franchise, property and severance taxes. The innovative options were principally the personal and corporate income taxes.^ The external factors included political and economic constraints that affected the actions of the HW&MC. Several key political constraints on committee decision-making were addressed--including public attitudes, interest groups, political party strength and tradition and precedents. The economic constraints that affected revenue decisions included court mandates, federal mandates and the fiscal condition of the nation and the state.^ The third component of the revenue decision-making framework included two alternative contingency theories. The first alternative theory postulated that the committee structure, including the individual member roles and the overall committee style, resulted in distinctive revenue decisions. This theory will be favored if evidence points to the committee acting autonomously with less concern for the policies of the Speaker of the House. The Speaker assignment theory, postulated that the assignment of committee members shaped or changed the course of committee decision-making. This theory will be favored if there was evidence that the committee was strictly a vehicle for the Speaker to institute his preferred tax policies.^ The ultimate goal of this analysis is to develop an explanation for legislative decision-making about tax policy. This explanation will be based on the linkages across various tax options, political and economic constraints, member roles and committee style and the patterns of committee assignment. ^

Certification of Panama Canal Commission estimated revenue for fiscal year /

Description based on: Feb, 25, 1985; title from cover.

Deferral of the effective date of managerial cost accounting standards for the federal government in SFFAS no.4.

"November 3, 1997."

FY 2004 : fee and penalty increases : Public Act 93-0032 (SB 1903)

"LPU Order 38511"--Colophon.

GAAP (Generally accepted accounting principles) report /

The Economic and Fiscal Commission is to prepare revenue and fund transfer estimates in accordance with Public Act 90-0479 by March 15th of each year. These estimates are to be reported to the General Assembly and the Governor.

[Summary of the reorganization and merger of the Illinois Department of the Lottery, the Illinois Liquor Control Commission, and the Illinois Racing Board with the Illinois Department of Revenue, pursuant to Executive Order 9, which took effect on June 1, 2003]

In accordance with 15-ILCS 15/11, from Chapter 127, paragraph 1811, the following report is offered to summarize the reorganization of the Department of the Lottery, the Liquor Control Commission, and the Illinois Racing Board merger with the Department of Revenue, pursuant to Executive Order 9, which took effect on June 1, 2003. As part of the governor's ongoing effort to streamline state government and improve efficiency, the consolidation eliminated duplication by integrating administrative functions of the agencies with the Department of Revenue. The change resulted in savings of $3 million on an annual basis from 29 fewer positions and a reduction of leased office space at 7 Lottery locations throughout the state. Streamlined operations were achieved by merging human resource management, procurement, accounting, information technology, and other administrative support services. In addition, Lottery headquarters in Springfield and Chicago, as well as sales district office locations throughout the state were merged with existing Department of Revenue offices, significantly reducing state lease costs. Core functions of the Lottery, Liquor Control Commission, and Racing Board remain intact, and the boards and commission that oversee these entities retain their regulatory responsibilities. The department is considering recommending "clean-up" legislation to replace statutory references to the "Department of the Lottery" with the "Division of the Lottery" or "Department of Revenue Division of the Lottery".

Internal Revenue Service : impact of the IRS Restructuring and Reform Act on Year 2000 efforts /

"B-280420"--P. <1>.

Federal Trade Commission : enforcement of the franchise rule : report to Congressional requesters /

"GAO-01-776."

Big 4 audit fee premiums for national and office-level industry leadership in the United Kingdom

The pricing of Big 4 industry leadership Is examined for a sample of U.K. publicly-listed companies, and adds to the evidence from the Australian and U.S. audit markets that city-specific industry leadership commands a fee premium. There is a significant fee premium for city-specific industry leaders relative to other Big 4 auditors, but no evidence that either the top-ranked or second-ranked firm nationally commands a fee premium relative to other Big 4 auditors, after controlling for city-level industry leadership. We also test for Big 4 fee premiums relative to non-Big 4 auditors and the U.K. data suggest a three-level hierarchy based on audit fee differentials: (1) Big 4 city-specific industry leaders have the largest fees; (2) other Big 4 auditors (noncity leaders) and second-tier national firms have comparable fees that are lower than Big 4 city leaders but larger than third-tier firms; and (3) third-tier accounting firms have the lowest fees.

Federal tax deductibility for local taxes and its effect on local revenue policies

This dissertation analyzes whether and how changes in federal tax policy affect local tax policies, specifically, the elimination of the federal deductibility of state and local taxes for individual taxpayers by the Tax Reform Act of 1986 (TRA86) in 59 California cities. Two methods are used in the study: a survey of local revenue officials and a time event time-series/cross sectional sales tax reliance study.^ The reliance study uses a covariance model to pool cross-section and time-series observations. The results of the reliance study indicate a statistically significant overall decline in sales tax reliance after 1986. The results of the survey indicate that local policy makers generally do not believe that federal deductibility is an important factor when considering raising local sales taxes. Further analysis shows that local revenue officials claiming federal deductibility is not an important factor are associated mostly with cities that registered no significant decline in sales tax reliance after 1986. Similarly, local revenue officials claiming federal deductibility is an important factor when considering local tax policy are associated mostly with cities that suffered a significant decline in sales tax reliance after 1986.^ Of that group, further analysis shows that the declines in sales tax reliance are associated mostly with cities located in the southwestern part of the state. When compared to other cities in the state, an analysis of variance reveals that there are a series of statistically significant factors associated with southwestern cities which may contribute to the decline in sales tax reliance following the enactment of the Tax Reform Act of 1986. ^

An Empirical Analysis of Performance Impacts Resulting From Conversion to Franchise Operations

Franchising is an important form of organizational control. Possible benefits of franchising include its ability to reduce agency costs that increase with costly monitoring, and provide incentives for the use of local information by onsite managers. However, these benefits may come at a cost, as franchisees may reduce quality by choosing to free ride. While many studies have investigated the reasons for franchising, few studies have documented the impacts of franchising on unit level operating performance. Using time-series data from a number of lodging properties that were converted to franchisee control from company control, this study documents the performance impacts of franchising. The analysis reveals that conversion results in a modest decline in financial performance and an immediate sharp decline in quality.