Suchergebnisse

China's ancient tax system, primarily built on land tax, suited its huge agrarian economic basis, which remained little changed for several thousand years. A variety of other taxes and revenue-like sources including the monopoly of salt and iron and compulsory labour duties were imposed as supplements to formal taxation. Informal taxation existed along with the development of formal taxation because formal tax revenues often could not meet government needs particularly at local levels. An advanced "provincial and prefectural" political regime evolved, from the time of the Qin Dynasty, to enable emperors or rulers to control the large territory. Tax administration was managed by the powerful bureaucratic government which effectively controlled nearly all aspects of state power. Yet taxation appears to have had little or no effect on shaping China's constitutional polity. Given the linkage between taxation and political-legal development in Western countries, this article examines the reason why, during the long period of China's political-legal transition, taxation failed to play a similar role in helping create a more developed constitutional polity. ; postprint

The current problems of China's taxation system reveal a major flaw in its Constitution and reflect a false understanding about taxation maxims. This article points out, through analysing three major problems with respect to its income taxes, that one of the main reasons that many businesses and common citizens throughout the country are reluctant to pay taxes is that they enjoy few rights as taxpayers. According to modern constitutional theory and tax law theory, taxpayers' rights not only concern people's private property rights but relate, also, to their civil and political rights. Few Chinese constitutional scholars pay sufficient attention to the fact that limiting government is a pre-requisite to foster growth in constitutionalism. This article discusses the linkage between taxpayers' rights and constitutionalism and suggests some reforms aimed at fostering the growth of limited government in China. ; published_or_final_version

Abstract Energy is essential for our lives and underpins all the key functions of society. However, our energy systems today are undergoing substantial changes. The growing energy demand and our dependence on fossil fuels have become an important issue faced by countries around the globe. Besides the technological developments in the field of renewables and smart grids for future smart energy, a significant weakness of our energy systems is their lack of social and economic perspectives, even though energy systems are often defined as techno-social systems. Through an extensive literature review of extant studies related to various aspects of energy and business model studies, this study has identified a major gap in that the business model and the value perspective have not been conceptualized with well-defined and holistic theoretical frameworks. Particularly, there is little understanding of the creation of open business models in digitalized industries, although the phenomenon is widespread in the real world. The main purpose of this research is to explore and understand the creation of open business models from the value perspective in the emerging smart energy ecosystem with a specific focus on value configurations. The study utilizes a system- and design-oriented action research approach and takes an energy innovation project funded by the European Union (EU) as the main data source. The results of the study are that: 1) the study proposes a holistic framework for the value perspective for (open) business models including value spaces, value configuration, and value complementarity. This is a major contribution to business model and management studies, and for the first time, it unifies the value thinking scattered throughout the existing literature; 2) the research provides an insight into how practitioners can conceptualize and approach the creation of open business models that are often enabled through digitalization; 3) the study contributes to the EU's 2020 and 2030 energy and environmental targets. The research on new business models for the energy industry can assist in the implementation of new energy market development, policy instruments, and market regulations that promote the creation of smart grids, all of which are currently boosting jobs, economic growth, and environmental sustainability in Europe and elsewhere. ; Tiivistelmä Nykyinen fossiilisista energianlähteistä riippuvainen energiajärjestelmämme on globaalissa muutoksessa energian kysynnän kasvaessa. Tulevaisuuden älykkäissä sähköverkoissa — ja koko energiajärjestelmässä — uusiutuvien energialähteiden rooli kasvaa huomattavasti. Vaikka energiajärjestelmät usein ymmärretäänkin sosio-teknisinä järjestelminä, ovat taloudelliset ja sosiaaliset näkökulmat jääneet aikaisemmassa tutkimuksessa usein teknisten näkökulmien varjoon. Tässä tutkimuksessa keskitytäänkin arvonluontiin ja liiketoimintamalleihin tulevaisuuden älykkäissä sähköverkoissa. Tutkimuksessa tehdyn ja energialiiketoimintaan kohdistuneen kirjallisuusanalyysin tuloksena voitiin todeta, että aikaisemmassa tutkimuksessa sovelletut liiketoimintamalli- tai arvonluonnin näkökulmat eivät muodosta riittävää ja kokonaisvaltaista viitekehystä älykkäiden sähköverkkojen tutkimukseen. Erityiseksi tutkimusaukoksi havaittiin avoimien ja digitaalisten liiketoimintamallien luominen energia-alalla. Tämän tutkimuksen tarkoituksena onkin ymmärtää, erityisesti arvon luonnin näkökulmasta, kuinka uusissa ja esiin nousevissa energiaekosysteemeissä syntyy ja luodaan avoimia liiketoimintamalleja ja arvokonfiguraatioita. Tutkimuksessa sovelletaan systeemi- ja suunnitteluorientoitunutta toimintatutkimusmetodologiaa, ja sen tutkimusaineisto on kerätty osana EU Horizon 2020 -ohjelmasta rahoitettua P2P-Smartest -hanketta. Tutkimuksen tuloksena esitetään 1) kokonaisvaltainen viitekehys avoimien liiketoimintamallien ymmärtämiseen arvonluonnin näkökulmasta. Viitekehys sisältää arvon luonnin alueen (value space), arvokonfiguraation (value configuration) ja arvon täydentävyyden (value complementarity) ulottuvuudet ekosysteemisessä kontekstissa. Lisäksi työssä esitetään näkökulmia, kuinka 2) käytännössä voidaan konseptoida ja luoda avoimia digitaalisia liiketoimintamalleja älykkäiden sähköverkkojen kontekstiin. Toteutetun liiketoimintamallitutkimuksen tulokset tukevat myös 3) EU:n vuosille 2020 ja 2030 asetettujen energia- ja ympäristötavoitteiden saavuttamista erityisesti energiamarkkinan, markkinaregulaation ja -politiikkojen kehittämisessä sekä älykkäiden sähköverkkojen käyttöön ottamisessa.

Under the international climate legal regime, many tree planting and forest management activities have been conducted in developing countries with the intention to generate carbon offsets (forest carbon projects). However, studies have shown that some foreign forest carbon projects lead to severely unsustainable results. The current international institutional framework cannot guarantee the long-term environmental and social benefits. This study set out to investigate how to design institutional reforms to promote sustainable results in foreign forest carbon projects in developing countries. The study provides one possible solution to this question that lies in the existing governing systems of multilateral funds. _Part I_ reviews the international institutional framework on forest carbon projects in developing countries using doctrinal and historical approaches. _Part II_ analyses the incentive schemes and the financial streams among major project actors from developed and developing countries. _Part III_ presents a case study of China, which examines the national institutional framework and practices based on interviews and project-site visits. Based on the analysis in the previous parts, Chapter 9 confirms that multilateral funds, which invest in foreign forest carbon projects in developing countries as financial intermediaries between the North and the South, have institutional and economic advantages in addressing the problems identified in the institutional framework and in the incentive schemes. Ten measures are discussed and tailored to address identified problems, based on evidence from practice, and embedded in a workable existing system.

The industrial tree plantation (ITP) sector is expanding rapidly and massively in Southern China, and recently especially in Guangxi. The rise of the ITP sector, involving both foreign and domestic actors, has led to extensive changes in land-use and land control, as well as in labour conditions and livelihoods in the villagers in question. These changes and the resulting encroachment by the ITP sector, has led to diverse political reactions by the affected villagers. Exploring the dynamics of the sector's expansion in Southern China offers, on the one hand, a more refined analysis of the role of China in global land politics and calls for a rethink of the nature of land politics. On the other hand, it helps to deepen the understanding of a complex maze of recent and dramatic agrarian transformations in Guangxi involving the land-labour nexus and villagers' livelihood changes. In this context, the central research question is: Why and how did the industrial tree plantation sector expand in Southern China, and what implications does it have for the livelihoods of rural villagers? Using a critical agrarian political economy and political ecology analytical framework, this study explores the dynamics of the ITP sector's expansion in Southern China - contextually, interactively, and dynamically. This study demonstrates that the rise of the ITP sector emerged under particular economic, political, and social conditions worldwide and in China, while the contours and trajectories of the ITP sector (re)shape and are (re)shap

China tends to be a dominant figure in the literature on global land grabbing. It is either cast as a major land grabber in distant places such as Africa, or as a key player in crop booms elsewhere because it provides for massive market demand, such as for soya from South America. These are all important issues and are well covered in the literature. However, the crop booms inside China that involve transnational capital and investors – and have provoked conflict around land politics – have been overlooked. Spotlighting the issue of land grabbing inside China reminds us that capital accumulation is principally interested in geographies and settings where it can generate profit – regardless of nationalities, boundaries, structural or institutional conditions. This paper hopes to contribute towards a more refined picture of global land grabbing.

In the last two decades, the industrial tree plantation (ITP) sector has expanded rapidly in southern China, causing important changes in land-use and land control. It involves both domestic and transnational corporations, and has provoked widespread conflict and political contestations. The villagers who are affected by the expansion of ITPs have reacted in varied and complex ways: some of the villagers were incorporated in the ITP sector, while others are excluded; some have embraced the change, while others have complaints; and some of the complaints remained latent, while others developed into (overt or covert) forms of resistance. This paper explores how and why various social groups have responded differently to the expansion of ITPs. This paper reveals the dynamics of villagers' inclusion and exclusion in the ITP sector, covering both 'passive' and 'active' forms of inclusion and exclusion, resulting in differentiated political reactions from villagers. This paper hopes to contribute towards a more comprehensive understanding of the complex engagement of villagers in changes in land use and land control, not just in the most commonly studied countries in global land grabbing but inside China, and in transactions that involved large foreign companies, something that has so far been missed in the literature on land grabbing.

Expatriates have been fundamental to China's economic growth, contributing to the country's socioeconomic development and modernization. The second-largest group of expatriates in China are North Americans. Personal income taxation concessions for expatriate workers have been an important instrument to attract and retain skilled foreign labour since China opened its doors to foreign investment and an income tax was adopted four decades ago. A recent overhaul of the law on individual income tax introduced a number of changes to expatriate income taxation, including the winding back of some preferential concessions previously offered only to expatriates. A literal reading of these changes suggests that the new regime has led to harsher tax treatment of expatriates and increased their tax liability. This article considers whether this view holds up, by closely analyzing the new system's major features relating to individual income tax as they affect expatriates. The authors challenge the literal reading of the law and argue that the recent changes have not fundamentally altered the underlying policy on expatriate income taxation. Further, an economically stronger China has not observed any diminishment of the role of personal income taxation as an instrument of government policy, despite the recent changes. A generous interpretation of the legal terms and rules, and of the application of concessions under the amended system, may encourage more lenient treatment of Canadians and other expatriates working and living in China.