Tax Credits Contingent Liabilities Brief December 8, 2008

The Tax Credits Contingent Liabilities Report was created by the Tax Research and Program Analysis Section of the Iowa Department of Revenue (IDR) for the benefit of the Revenue Estimating Conference (REC). This report is part of the Tax Credits Tracking and Analysis Program. The goal of the program is to provide a repository for information concerning the awarding, usage, and effectiveness of tax credits. This report forecasts tax credit claims assuming that all available awarded credits are issued and then, along with forecasted credits, are subsequently claimed.

Tax Credits Contingent Liabilities Brief March 17, 2009

The Tax Credits Contingent Liabilities Report was created by the Tax Research and Program Analysis Section of the Iowa Department of Revenue (IDR) for the benefit of the Revenue Estimating Conference (REC). This report is part of the Tax Credits Tracking and Analysis Program. The goal of the program is to provide a repository for information concerning the awarding, usage, and effectiveness of tax credits. This report forecasts tax credit claims assuming that all available awarded credits are issued and then, along with forecasted credits, are subsequently claimed.

Tax Credits Contingent Liabilities Brief August 14, 2009

The Tax Credits Contingent Liabilities Report was created by the Tax Research and Program Analysis Section of the Iowa Department of Revenue (IDR) for the benefit of the Revenue Estimating Conference (REC). This report is part of the Tax Credits Tracking and Analysis Program. The goal of the program is to provide a repository for information concerning the awarding, usage, and effectiveness of tax credits. This report forecasts tax credit claims assuming that all available awarded credits are issued and then, along with forecasted credits, are subsequently claimed.

Tax Credits Contingent Liabilities Brief October 7, 2009

The Tax Credits Contingent Liabilities Report was created by the Tax Research and Program Analysis Section of the Iowa Department of Revenue (IDR) for the benefit of the Revenue Estimating Conference (REC). This report is part of the Tax Credits Tracking and Analysis Program. The goal of the program is to provide a repository for information concerning the awarding, usage, and effectiveness of tax credits. This report forecasts tax credit claims assuming that all available awarded credits are issued and then, along with forecasted credits, are subsequently claimed.

Iowa Efficiency Review Report to Governor Chet Culver and Lieutenant Governor Patty Judge, December 18,2009

Public Works is pleased to present the following Iowa Efficiency Review Report to Governor Chet Culver and Lieutenant Governor Patty Judge. This report is the product of a collaboration between our consulting team and very dedicated Iowa state employees who worked with us to share ideas and cost‐saving proposals under very difficult circumstances caused by the national financial crisis that is affecting state budgets throughout the country. For example, during the course of this review, Iowa departments were also asked to develop across‐the‐board cuts to achieve immediate reductions in state spending. It is a credit to Iowa state government that departmental staff continued to work on this Efficiency Review Report despite these challenges of also having to develop across‐the‐board budget cuts to achieve a balanced budget. We hope that these ideas will set the stage for further future budget improvements from achieving efficiencies, eliminating outdated practices, increasing the use of information technology solutions and finding new sources of non‐tax funding. The Efficiency Review Team faced a second challenge. Statewide Efficiency Reviews usually take from nine to 12 months to complete. In Iowa, we worked with dedicated department staff to complete our work in less than 4 months. The Governor challenged all of us to work intensely and to give him our best thinking on efficiency proposals so that he could act as quickly as possible to position state government for success over the next several years.

Tax Credits Contingent Liabilities Brief, December 11, 2009

The Tax Credits Contingent Liabilities Report was created by the Tax Research and Program Analysis Section of the Iowa Department of Revenue (IDR) for the benefit of the Revenue Estimating Conference (REC). This report is part of the Tax Credits Tracking and Analysis Program. The goal of the program is to provide a repository for information concerning the awarding, usage, and effectiveness of tax credits. This report forecasts tax credit claims assuming that all available awarded credits are issued and then, along with forecasted credits, are subsequently claimed.

Tax Credits Contingent Liabilities Brief March 11, 2010

The Tax Credits Contingent Liabilities Report was created by the Tax Research and Program Analysis Section of the Iowa Department of Revenue (IDR) for the benefit of the Revenue Estimating Conference (REC). This report is part of the Tax Credits Tracking and Analysis Program. The goal of the program is to provide a repository for information concerning the awarding, usage, and effectiveness of tax credits. This report forecasts tax credit claims assuming that all available awarded credits are issued and then, along with forecasted credits, are subsequently claimed.

Iowa's Leadership in Research and Development, 2010

Pentagon-classified navigation systems are designed and tested. Genetically-superior, drought resistant triple-stacked corn hybrids exponentially improve corn and soybean yields. Scientists discover a simple flower, the marigold, unlocks astonishing potential as a change agent to improve the world’s health. All achieved or discovered in Iowa, the common denominator among all of these extraordinary activities is the intensive research and development efforts involved in bringing them to market. For businesses heavily dependent on research and development, one of their strategic advantages of conducting that world-changing research in Iowa is the state’s Research Activities Credit, commonly referred to as the Research and Development tax credit. Whether a company’s specific strategy is planting a stake into emerging markets, expanding its market leadership position, or paving technological inroads to gain market share, the success of those efforts is largely dependent on the company’s preceding work in research and development. Iowa recognizes how significant these resulting innovations are to long-term business growth and stability. Even though the federal research credits have fluctuated with intermittent expiration dates and reinstatement periods, Iowa has remained consistent in its support for the Research Activities Credit over theyears.

The Impact of Monetary Union on EU-15 Sovereign Debt Yield Spreads

With European Monetary Union (EMU), there was an increase in the adjusted spreads (corrected from the foreign exchange risk) of euro participating countries' sovereign securities over Germany and a decrease in those of non-euro countries. The objective of this paper is to study the reasons for this result, and in particular, whether the change in the price assigned by markets was due to domestic factors such as credit risk and/or market liquidity, or to international risk factors. The empirical evidence suggests that market size scale economies have increased since EMU for all European markets, so the effect of the various risk factors, even though it differs between euro and non-euro countries, is always dependent on the size of the market.

Un modelo de riesgo de crédito basado en opciones compuestas con barrera. Aplicación al mercado continuo español

In this work the valuation methodology of compound option written on a downand-out call option, developed by Ericsson and Reneby (2003), has been applied to deduce a credit risk model. It is supposed that the firm has a debt structure with two maturity dates and that the credit event takes place when the assets firm value falls under a determined level called barrier. An empirical application of the model for 105 firms of Spanish continuous market is carried out. For each one of them its value in the date of analysis, the volatility and the critical value are obtained and from these, the default probability to short and long-term and the implicit probability in the two previous probabilities are deduced. The results are compared with the ones obtained from the Geskemodel (1977).

An investment social network beside the Banco de Barcelona, an unusual case?

[cat] L’extensió de les activitats bancàries al segle XIX va ser liderat per alguns grups socials connectats amb el comerç, que van treure profit de la seva experiència i coneixement per estendre la seva influència al voltant del món del crèdit. A la historiografia espanyola, hi ha un conjunt de treballs que s’han centrat en aquesta gent, però en molts pocs casos s’ha fet una classificació que permeti detectar el conjunt de grups econòmics que han liderat el procés de modernització financera de l’Espanya de mitjans del segle XIX. El principal objectiu del treball és l’anàlisi dels grups socials que van formar el Banco de Barcelona entre 1844 i 1854. Aquesta institució va ser important per a la història financera i bancària d’Espanya per ser pionera en la seva activitat creditícia i d’emissió: a més, la seva experiència va servir com a base en la constitució d’un sistema financer modern a Espanya. En una societat com la catalana de mitjans del segle XIX, la confiança era un factor important per explicar la decisió d’invertir. L’aparició de noves companyies i les seves necessitats d’inversió van transformar el comportaments previs. Quin va ser el comportament dels inversors potencials? Va ser el grup que hi havia al voltant del banc el que va ascendir econòmicament en els anys centrals del segle XIX? La resposta és prou clara, els membres del consell d’administració del Banc de Barcelona formaven un grup apart dins dels grups que sorgeixen a l’economia catalana en el seu conjunt.

Monetary integration and the cost of borrowing

With the beginning of the European Monetary Union (EMU), euro-area sovereign securities¿ adjusted spreads over Germany (corrected from the foreign exchange risk) experienced an increase that caused a lower than expected decline in borrowing costs. The objective of this paper is to study what explains that rising. In particular, if it took place a change in the price assigned by markets to domestic (credit risk and/or market liquidity) or to international risk factors. The empirical evidence supports the idea that a change in the market value of liquidity occurred with the EMU. International and default risk play a smaller role

Policy Addressing Civil Rights/Discrimination Complaints, January 3, 2011

The Iowa Governor’s Office of Drug Control Policy (ODCP) shall comply with all applicable federal and state laws prohibiting discrimination, as well as the State of Iowa’s Equal Opportunity, Affirmative Action and Anti-Discrimination Policy for Executive Branch Employees (Section 2.40 of Iowa Department of Administrative Services Managers and Supervisors Manual). Federal law prohibits discrimination against individuals or groups, either in employment or in the delivery of services or benefits, on the basis of age, race, color, national origin, religion, sex, or disability. State law prohibits discrimination in the areas of employment, housing, credit, public accommodations and education. Under the Iowa Civil Rights Act of 1965, discrimination, or different treatment, is illegal if based on race, color, creed, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, pregnancy, physical disability, mental disability, retaliation (because of filing a previous discrimination complaint, participating in an investigation of a discrimination complaint, or having opposed discriminatory conduct), age (in employment and credit), familial status (in housing and credit) or marital status (in credit). State policy requires all employees and applicants for employment in the executive branch be afforded equal access. The intent of this policy is to ensure that employment opportunities, within the executive branch of state government, are accessible to all persons, and that executive branch agencies do not discriminate against any person because of race, creed, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, or physical or mental disability.

Social Investment Policies in Times of Permanent Austerity

The objective of this paper is to identify the political conditions that are most likely to be conducive to the development of social investment policies. It starts from the view put forward by theorists of welfare retrenchment that in the current context of permanent austerity, policy is likely to be dominated by retrenchment and implemented in a way that allows governments to minimise the risk of electoral punishment (blame avoidance). It is argued that this view is inconsistent with developments observed in several European countries, were some welfare state expansion has taken place mostly in the fields of childcare and active labour market policy. An alternative model is put forward, that emphasises the notion of "affordable credit claiming". It is argued that even under strong budgetary pressures, governments maintain a preference for policies that allow them to claim credit for their actions. Since the traditional redistributive policies tend to be off the menu for cost reasons, governments have tended to favour investments in childcare and active labour market policy as credit claiming tools. Policies developed in this way while they have a social investment flavour, tend to be rather limited in the extent to which they genuinely improve prospects of disadvantaged people by investing in their human capital. A more ambitious strategy of social investment sees unlikely to develop on the basis of affordable credit claiming. The paper starts by presenting the theoretical argument, which is then illustrated with examples taken from European countries both in the pre-crisis and in the post-crisis years.

SF 2088 Convenience Fees Analysis and Recommendations, November 16, 2011

As an expansion of SF2088, the Department of Administrative Services-Information Technology Enterprise (DAS-ITE) was asked to further analyze the potential costs and savings if the current practice of charging credit card and overhead fees (“value-added fees”) were to be eliminated. Value-added fees reflect the costs an agency incurs while providing online services, and those costs will always exist.. DAS-ITE researched these costs and identified ways of making the associated fees less burdensome to the citizens of Iowa. The three alternatives provide different ways in which agencies can recover those costs; they could be borne by either an annual appropriation or adjustment of the online service “price” to include the fees within the cost of the online transaction. An additional alternative is presented to leave the current value-added fee practices in place. Recognition must also be made of the fact that traditional forms of conducting business with the State of Iowa, face-to-face and paper-based transactions, are inherently more costly. These delivery channels are effectively subsidized by the agency as a “cost of doing business” and the associated expense of the transactions is not passed on to the customer.