Pandemic, Economic Crisis and public revenue: the impacts of Complementary Law 173/2020 on personnel costs in the municipalities of the northeastern region of Santa Catarina

In addition to being a sanitary crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic has also led to an economic crisis in Brazilian society. An obvious consequence of this economic crisis resulting from the pandemic is the fall in public revenue. The reduced consumption of goods and services by families in times of crisis has a negative fiscal impact, which in turn affects government expenditure and investments, leading to even less economic activity. In an attempt to mitigate the effects of the crisis, the Federal Program to Confront the SARS-CoV-2 Coronavirus (Covid-19) was created through Complementary Law 173/2020 to bring relief to municipalities and other subnational entities, but under the imposition of a number of controls on personnel costs. The present study sought to analyze the impact of the economic crisis caused by the pandemic on municipal tax revenues in the northeastern region of Santa Catarina State. The study also evaluated the extent to which Complementary Law 173/2020 helped to sustain the personnel costs of the executive branch of these municipalities. The results of the study showed that there was an average reduction of 4.21% in municipal Current Net Revenues, especially in Joinville, with a reduction of 6.86%, and Campo Alegre (10.51%). The study also showed that Complementary Law 173/2020 helped to sustain personnel costs in the executive branch of the municipalities in question. Personnel costs remained within the maximum and prudential limits set by the Fiscal Responsibility Law. Nevertheless, five municipalities registered an increase in terms of percentages, notably related to the fall in Current Net Revenues during the period under study.

23. Other offences involving fraud

This chapter focuses on other offences involving fraud, including false accounting, false statements by company directors, suppression of documents and cheating the public revenue—offences that are addressed in s 17 of the Theft Act 1968. Section 17(1)(a) criminalizes falsification of accounts, etc, whereas s 17(1)(b) criminalizes using a falsified account, etc. Section 17(2) provides an extended, albeit non-exhaustive, definition of falsity. The concept of a claim of right includes a claim to the payment of a debt. If a person genuinely believes in the claim of right to the money to which he acts with a view to gain, there is no reason why he should use false means (evidencing his dishonesty) to acquire that money. This chapter also discusses elements of the fraud-related offences including ‘gain’ and ‘loss’ as defined in s 34(2)(a) of the Theft Act 1968.

The impact of fiscal policy on economic happiness: evidence from the countries of the MENA region

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between fiscal policy (tax revenues and government expenditure) and economic happiness. The panel data are used from 2012 to 2016 for 18 countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Design/methodology/approach The study adopted the Barro (1990) model of endogeneity growth to characterize the relationship between fiscal policy and economic happiness. The study estimated the model by using the pooled ordinary least squares method, the fixed effects method and the random-effects method. In addition, the study used the dynamic estimate of this relationship rather than the conventional static estimate through the generalized method of moments’ method. This leads to overcoming the endogeneity problem between the dependent variable and the independent variables. Findings The main findings indicated that there is a negative and statistically significant relationship between nondistortionary taxes and economic happiness. Also, there is no relationship between public expenditure and economic happiness, whether productive or nonproductive. The results confirmed a positive and significant relationship between other revenues and economic happiness. The current study recommended the diversification of other public revenue sources to increase its contribution to public expenditure financing and the restructuring of the tax system, particularly nondistortionary taxes. These taxes must be replaced by other revenues or by distortionary taxes to increase economic happiness. Research limitations/implications The research represents a strong starting base that can help researchers to conduct more studies on economic happiness by using different measures and comparing their results to find out the determinants of happiness. The relationship between economic happiness and fiscal policy with its different aspects requires more studies, especially the relationship between taxes and economic happiness in our region. The study of the relationship between public expenditure and economic happiness according to economic activities can guide decision-makers to direct the expenditure toward economic activities that achieve the happiness of their citizens. Enriching this study requires the availability of fiscal data for the entire MENA region for longer periods, which allow us to divide the countries of the region into petroleum and nonpetroleum countries, but the scarcity of data is one of the limitations of the study. Practical implications The governments of MENA countries should diversify other public revenue sources to increase the financing public expenditure by the expense of tax revenues, especially nondistortionary taxes, which would increase the economic happiness of their citizens. Originality/value This study is one of the rare studies that investigate the relationship between fiscal policy and economic happiness at the global level. This study contributed to filling the gap of this issue in the MENA region and enriching global literature through the experience of the MENA region. Moreover, this study investigated all aspects of fiscal policy, in contrast to other studies that focused on one of its aspects. The weakness in these studies is because of the lack of correlation between the sources of revenues and the face of their spending.

Developing nations risk backsliding in COVID recovery

Significance These dynamics harm developing states disproportionately and are driving a rise in global poverty. Traditional recovery policies tend to be harmful for the environment; these are especially problematic today, because the time for decisive action on climate change is limited. Impacts The UN saw developing states growing by 5% in 2015-30 at the SDG launch; this was not met by 2020 and is highly unlikely by 2025. In low-income states, debt interest payments doubled as a share of public revenue from 2008-17 and will rise more, squeezing other spending. Climate benefits of less activity were short-lived in past crises, and rebounds climate-unfriendly; clear climate targets should help now.