Applying the Regulatory Powers of Public Health

2003 ◽  
Vol 31 (S4) ◽  
pp. 68-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela Z. Monson ◽  
Jake Pauls ◽  
Michelle Leverett
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Tax Policy ◽  
Sales Tax ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Grocery Stores ◽  
Sales Taxes ◽  
Tobacco Sales ◽  
Convenience Stores ◽  
Internet Sales ◽  
Regulatory Powers

The advent of sales over the Internet has led to interesting developments in sales tax policy as states attempt to monitor, control, and collect revenue from illusive Internet tobacco vendors. Tobacco sales have been successfully monitored and regulated, to some extent, in convenience stores, grocery stores, and smoke shops, and in most cases sales taxes are collected. The Internet, however, is extremely difficult to regulate. States could use their regulatory powers to ban the sale of products such as tobacco and alcohol over the Internet, but enforcement would be nearly impossible.The issue of enforcement of Internet sales is extremely difficult. Keeping the products out of the wrong hands, under aged children for example, is difficult. Also, it is difficult in terms of tax policy.

Fairness and the Internet Sales Tax

2010 ◽  
pp. 188-199
Author(s):  
James Brian Coleman
Keyword(s):  
John Rawls ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
The United States ◽  
Sales Tax ◽  
The Internet ◽  
David Gauthier ◽  
Internet Sales ◽  
Online Business ◽  
State And Local

One of the most noticeable features of online business transactions in the United States is the absence of a sales tax on interstate purchases. Consumers are not expected to pay taxes on Internet purchases across state lines, and businesses are not expected to collect taxes for such purchases. The absence of an interstate Internet sales tax (shortened hereafter to “Internet tax,” except where noted) has been both praised as an incentive to promote business, and condemned as the cause of serious revenue loss by municipalities throughout the nation. In this chapter, I shall present an analysis of current proposals about instituting a sales tax on Internet purchases. Both sides of the debate argue for their position on grounds of fairness to the businesses who, were an internet tax to be levied, would be expected to collect and remit it to the state and local governments. So, I will focus on the concept of fairness in this discussion. I will consider the claims about the fairness or unfairness of the Internet tax from the standpoint of contractarianism: a group of philosophical theories that focus on questions concerning the just distribution of social resources. I will make use specifically of the views of John Rawls and David Gauthier to analyze the positions on the Internet tax. I shall conclude by arguing in favor of the Internet tax on contractarian grounds.

scholarly journals What Is Important When Shopping Online?

2011 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kaye McKinzie ◽  
Ken Griffin ◽  
Pat Cantrell ◽  
Vicky Chen
Keyword(s):  
Online Shopping ◽  
Sales Tax ◽  
Online Transactions ◽  
Sales Taxes ◽  
Online Retailers ◽  
Physical Presence ◽  
Internet Sales ◽  
Potential Impact ◽  
State And Local

Shoppers have many avenues on where to purchase products, one of which is online. Many online retailers do not apply state and local sales taxes on products they sell, thus allowing them to sell their products cheaper than can be found at local retailers. If the physical presence nexus rule is altered and Internet sales tax is applied for all online transactions, it could potentially change online shopping. The results of a survey of 154 persons are presented, discussing the potential impact of the changing of the physical presence nexus rule and requiring Internet sales tax.

Italian operators' response to the COVID-19 pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-31
Author(s):  
Massimo Candela ◽  
Antonio Prado
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Public Health Emergency ◽  
Internet Usage ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Market Conditions ◽  
The Public ◽  
Online Activities ◽  
Internet Network

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, governments introduced several social restrictions. As of 18 March 2020, more than 250 million people were in lockdown in Europe. This drastically increased the number of online activities. Due to this unprecedented situation, some concerns arose about the suitability of the Internet network to sustain the increased usage. Italy was severely hit by the first wave of the pandemic and various regions underwent a lockdown before the main country-wide one. The Italian network operators started sharing information about improvements carried out on the network and new measures adopted to support the increase in Internet usage. In this report, by means of a questionnaire, we collect information and provide a quantitative overview of the actions undertaken by network operators in Italy. The attitude of Italian operators was synergic and proactive in supporting the changed market conditions caused by the public health emergency.

scholarly journals Taxing Food to Improve Health: Economic Evidence and Arguments

2007 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 174-182 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sean B. Cash ◽  
Ryan D. Lacanilao
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Economic ◽  
Health Outcomes ◽  
Tax Policy ◽  
Economic Evidence ◽  
Relative Prices ◽  
Health Objectives ◽  
Improve Health

Many observers have suggested that tax policy can be used to change the relative prices of foods in ways that will produce desirable health outcomes. We briefly review the economic evidence regarding such claims, and discuss several conceptual and pragmatic issues surrounding the use of such interventions to achieve public health objectives.

Shopping for Lower Sales Tax Rates

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 209-250
Author(s):  
Scott R. Baker ◽  
Stephanie Johnson ◽  
Lorenz Kueng
Keyword(s):  
Shopping Behavior ◽  
Sales Tax ◽  
Fixed Costs ◽  
Tax Rates ◽  
Inventory Problem ◽  
Sales Taxes ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Short Run ◽  
State And Local

Using comprehensive high-frequency state and local sales tax data, we show that shopping behavior responds strongly to changes in sales tax rates. Even though sales taxes are not observed in posted prices and have a wide range of rates and exemptions, consumers adjust in many dimensions. They stock up on storable goods before taxes rise and increase online and cross-border shopping in both the short and long run. The difference between short- and long-run spending responses has important implications for the efficacy of using sales taxes for countercyclical policy and for the design of an optimal tax framework. Interestingly, households adjust spending similarly for both taxable and tax-exempt goods. We embed an inventory problem into a continuous-time consumption-savings model and demonstrate that this behavior is optimal in the presence of shopping trip fixed costs. The model successfully matches estimated short-run and long-run tax elasticities. We provide additional evidence in favor of this new shopping complementarity mechanism. (JEL E21, E32, G51, H21, H25, H71)

scholarly journals Local Retail Food Environment and Consumption of Fruit and Vegetable among Adults in Hong Kong

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (10) ◽  
pp. 2247 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ting Zhang ◽  
Bo Huang
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Food Environment ◽  
Fast Food ◽  
Vegetable Consumption ◽  
Grocery Stores ◽  
Fruit Consumption ◽  
Retail Food Environment ◽  
Convenience Stores ◽  
Fast Food Restaurants ◽  
Retail Food

Outside of western countries, the study of the local food environment and evidence for its association with dietary behavior is limited. The aim of this paper was to examine the association between the local retail food environment and consumption of fruit and vegetables (FV) among adults in Hong Kong. Local retail food environment was measured by density of different types of retail food outlets (grocery stores, convenience stores, and fast food restaurants) within a 1000 m Euclidean buffer around individual’s homes using a geographic information system (GIS). The Retail Food Environment Index (RFEI) was calculated based on the relative density of fast-food restaurants and convenience stores to grocery stores. Logistic regressions were performed to examine associations using cross-sectional data of 1977 adults (18 years or older). Overall, people living in an area with the highest RFEI (Q4, >5.76) had significantly greater odds of infrequent FV consumption (<7 days/week) after covariates adjustment (infrequent fruit consumption: OR = 1.36, 95% CI 1.04–1.78; infrequent vegetable consumption: OR = 1.72, 95% CI 1.11–2.68) in comparison to the lowest RFEI (Q1, <2.25). Highest density of fast food restaurants (Q4, >53) was also significantly associated with greater odds of infrequent fruit consumption (<7 days/week) (unadjusted model: OR = 1.34, 95% CI 1.04–1.73), relative to lowest density of fast food restaurants (Q1, <13). No significant association of density of grocery stores or convenience stores was observed with infrequent FV consumption regardless of the covariates included in the model. Our results suggest that the ratio of fast-food restaurants and convenience stores to grocery stores near people’s home is an important environmental factor in meeting fruit and vegetable consumption guidelines. “Food swamps” (areas with an abundance of unhealthy foods) rather than “food deserts” (areas where there is limited access to healthy foods) seems to be more of a problem in Hong Kong’s urban areas. We advanced international literature by providing evidence in a non-western setting.

scholarly journals In the Purchase’s Essence: Sensory and symbolic elements in the descriptions of perfume sales over the Internet

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 217
Author(s):  
Brenda Allana Santos De Paula ◽  
Miriam Leite Farias ◽  
Salomão Alencar de Farias ◽  
Ilda Maria Moraes e Silva
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Design ◽  
Negative Association ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Level Of Involvement ◽  
Dependent Variables ◽  
Internet Sales ◽  
Quasi Experimental ◽  
Product Description ◽  
Do So

This study aimed to analyse whether sensory and symbolic elements used in perfume descriptions in internet sales can positively influence the level of involvement and consumer buying intention. To do so, a quasi-experimental design was adopted with the creation of three scenarios: one control group and two experimental groups.  Each participant was presented to only one of the scenarios created, characterizing the model between subjects. Regarding the results, it was found that it is not possible to perceive differences between the means of the groups in relation to the dependent variables, except for a negative association between sensory aspects and the level of involvement. Therefore, it was concluded that it may not be advantageous to invest in sensory and symbolic aspects present in the product description in internet sales, it is necessary to rethink this strategy due the fact that this environment has a certain limitation with hedonics products.

scholarly journals How Sales Taxes Affect Customer and Firm Behavior: The Role of Search on the Internet

2010 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 229-239 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric T. Anderson ◽  
Nathan M. Fong ◽  
Duncan I. Simester ◽  
Catherine E. Tucker
Keyword(s):  
Firm Behavior ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Sales Taxes

Do State Sales Taxes Crowd Out Local Option Sales Taxes?

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory S. Burge ◽  
Cynthia L. Rogers
Keyword(s):  
Local Governments ◽  
Sales Tax ◽  
Tax Rates ◽  
Tax Base ◽  
Tax Rate ◽  
Sales Taxes ◽  
Fiscal Externalities ◽  
Crowd Out ◽  
State And Local ◽  
Fiscal Spillovers

Abstract Currently, sales taxes are imposed at both the state and local levels in 37 US states. In these environments, vertical tax competition occurs as governments share a common sales tax base, and local jurisdictions have autonomy over sales tax rates. As cash-strapped states look to sales taxes for additional revenues, local governments may worry about potentially adverse revenue impacts, as consumers react to combined tax rate increases. This study examines state-municipal and county-municipal fiscal spillovers using an empirical approach that accounts for endogenous tax policy leadership and voter tax fatigue. Employing comprehensive longitudinal data from Oklahoma, we find that state tax hikes significantly crowd out future rate increases for the large group of jurisdictions that are designated as followers. Leader jurisdictions are not found to display crowd-out tendencies, a result that is consistent with recent work suggesting that leaders may be less influenced by vertical fiscal externalities than other jurisdictions.

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