An Empirical Comparison of Portuguese and Multilingual BERT Models for Auto-Classification of NCM Codes in International Trade

The classification of goods involved in international trade in Brazil is based on the Mercosur Common Nomenclature (NCM). The classification of these goods represents a real challenge due to the complexity involved in assigning the correct category codes especially considering the legal and fiscal implications of misclassification. This work focuses on the training of a classifier based on Bidirectional En-coder Representations from Transformers (BERT) for the tax classification of goods with NCM codes. In particular, this article presents results from using a specific Portuguese Language tuned BERT model as well results from using a Multilingual BERT. Experimental results justify the use of these models in the classification process and also that the language specific model has a slightly better performance.

ACCOUNTING AND FISCAL IMPLICATIONS RELATED TO THE TRANSITION FROM PROFIT TAX TO MICRO-ENTERPRISE INCOME TAX

In the years preceding the coronavirus pandemic, the Romanian economy experienced a constant economic growth, which determined a significant increase of the companies' profitability. Still, the budget revenues from the taxation of the profits obtained by the company did not perform as expected. This was also due to the fact that there were extensive legal changes referring to the way of taxing the company's profits. In this context, we intend to analyze the situation of a trading company whose business field is construction works of residential and non-residential buildings. The company operates in Brasov city area and in the recent years has seen several changes from the income tax of micro-enterprises to the profit tax and vice versa, which has had a considerable impact on the volume of taxes due

AN INSIGHT INTO POTENTIAL FISCAL IMPLICATIONS OF THE GREAT LOCKDOWN FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF SMALL STATES

The Great Lockdown has caused severe economic distractions to the majority of world countries, and de-globalization trends have started to increase. Globalization was to an extent beneficial for smaller economies, and it was one of the factors contributing to the rise in the number of countries around the world during the last few decades. According to the perceived larger openness and vulnerability of smaller states, it is thus expected that those countries are hit much harder by the economic contraction, as their outputs are much more volatile in relation to the economic cycles. In this context, the paper intends to investigate the exposure of European states to the current lockdown, where the focus is particularly on assessing the fiscal impacts of the lockdown. The main research question is whether there are any differences regarding the fiscal functions of government between smaller and larger states. This is addressed through the cross-national comparative investigation based on data for 44 European countries; and we specifically assess how fiscal activities of government differentiate among smaller and larger states. The results of the study suggest that the effect of the size of the state does not affect the consumption spending of government, but the size variable matters for the transfer expenditures. This piece of research would like to add to the development of the discipline of small state studies, in particular to the issue of their vulnerability and changing global economic environment.

Defense Budgeting and Resource Allocation

This chapter dissects the US defense budget, as well as various matters in the broader field of defense economics. It provides methodologies for understanding how different defense strategies and military force postures affect that budget. The chapter also explores various ways the defense budget can be categorized, broken down, and defined. It examines issues like military readiness — how the Department of Defense ensures that its forces are ready-to-go for crises that may emerge quickly. The chapter then looks into the economics of military bases, at home and abroad. It discusses military acquisition, modernization, and innovation. The chapter then shifts to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) figures, and analyses how they provide the backbone of the cost estimates. It highlights the core of this section — understanding the costs of US Department of Defense's (DoD) force structure by type of unit. This is probably the core of defense budgeting methodology for those seeking to understand the fiscal implications of a given defense strategy and force structure. Ultimately, the chapter investigates how two different concepts of grand strategy and/or military policy might be translated into force structure, weapons acquisition, and budget plans.

Probing the Fiscal Implications of Multipurpose Development Districts: An Institutional Analysis of Florida Community Development Districts

Across the U.S., private land developers are forgoing traditional financing of new suburban infrastructure in favor of an institutional innovation in special government—multipurpose development districts. This article presents an exploratory analysis of the fiscal characteristics of this relatively novel financing and governing mechanism. Focusing on residential developments financed through the creation of Florida multipurpose development districts, or community development districts (CDDs), we ask: What is the general profile of CDD borrowing and spending? What functional trends are reflected in CDD borrowing and spending and how do they compare to those of their general-purpose counterparts? How does CDD borrowing and spending change over time as residents, not developers, take over responsibility for district administration? We consider two institutional design principles important for self-governance of such developments—accountability and representation. The discussion raises self-governance implications, particularly whether multipurpose development district financing creates incentives for developers to “oversupply” infrastructure to maximize profits.

Iraq

Iraq is substantially exposed to fiscal risks related to guarantees issued by the State, with a stock of guarantees related to foreign currency service payments and debt of USD 21.7 billion at end-June 2017 and a stock of domestic guarantees that remains to be fully assessed. In 2017, the Council of Ministers approved a set of procedures to tighten controls on the approval of State guarantees. Nevertheless, misreporting cases highlight the need to further strengthen capacities and institutional arrangements to effectively identify and monitor the fiscal implications of guarantees, including in the context of EBFs’ operations.