FORMAL TAX COMPLIANCE IN INDONESIA THROUGH ELECTRONIC TAX FILING: A CASE STUDY OF MICRO, SMALL, AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES (MSMEs)

The implementation of electronic tax filing provides convenience to taxpayers in reporting their annual tax returns. The adoption of this policy, especially for micro, small and medium enterprises, is illustrated through the number of MSME taxpayers who report Electronic Annual Tax Return to the number of MSMEs registered as taxpayers. Increases have not followed annual increases in the number of MSME taxpayers who report Annual Tax Return. We investigated the possible correlation between business size and formal tax compliance use: data from the Directorate General of Taxes at the province level in Indonesia for 2014 – 2018. We employed the aggregate business-level Micro, Small, and Medium electronic tax filing data combined with the Base Transceiver Station data at the provincial level. We found that micro and small-scale taxpayers e – filing rate has a positive and significant effect on formal tax compliance. Yet, both of them have a non-linear relationship to formal tax compliance. These results imply that size or business scale MSME taxpayers is associated with formal tax compliance, and greater benefits can be obtained in a province with a high microscale taxpayer's e – filing rate.

Living in a block group with a higher eviction rate is associated with increased odds of preterm delivery

BackgroundHousing instability is associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes. Recent studies indicate that eviction, which may affect a larger segment of the population than other forms of housing instability, is also associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes. However, these studies evaluate eviction across large areas, such as counties, so it remains unclear whether these patterns extend to individual-level pregnancy outcomes.MethodsWe used data on a cohort of all singleton live births at a single Chicago hospital between March 2008 and March 2018 to investigate the associations between block-group eviction rates and individual adverse pregnancy outcomes. Eviction data were obtained from the Eviction Lab at Princeton University. Generalised estimating equations were used to estimate associations and account for correlations among individuals living in the same block groups.ResultsIndividuals living in block groups in the highest quartile for eviction filing rate were 1.17 times as likely to deliver preterm (95% CI: 1.08 to 1.27) and 1.13 times as likely to deliver a small for gestational age infant (95% CI: 1.03 to 1.25) as compared with individuals living in block groups in the lowest quartile. Further, tests for linear trend indicated that for each quartile increase in eviction filing rate, there was a corresponding increase in odds of adverse outcomes (p<0.05). Results were strongest in magnitude for those with low neighbourhood and individual socioeconomic status, who are most likely to be renters and affected by local eviction policies.ConclusionOur results suggest that individuals living in block groups with higher eviction rates are more likely to deliver preterm. Future research should explore associations of individual experience with eviction on adverse pregnancy outcomes and examine whether policies to improve tenant protections also impact pregnancy outcomes.

Decline in rate of divorce and separation filings in Denmark in 2020 compared to previous years

The radical changes to everyday life brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic and the closure of non-family social spheres in particular may have impacted marriage dynamics. We provide evidence on the monthly rates of initiation of divorce and separation filings in Denmark for the period 2016-2020 to examine how filing behavior changed during 2020 compared to the four previous years. Because filing rates precedes a divorce, rates reflect more precise the temporal dynamic of divorce initiation. Rates of initiation of divorce filings declined in 2020 to the lowest level in the period 2016-2020. On average, monthly rates in 2020 were 7 percent lower than 2019 rates and 20 percent lower than 2016 rates. There is little indication of the COVID-19 pandemic having an immediate influence on divorce dynamics, although the filing rate was more depressed during lockdown periods.

Decline in Rate of Divorce and Separation Filings in Denmark in 2020 Compared with Previous Years

The radical changes to everyday life brought on by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and the closure of nonfamily social spheres in particular may have impacted marriage dynamics. The author provides evidence on the monthly rates of initiation of divorce and separation filings in Denmark for the period from 2016 to 2020 to examine how filing behavior changed during 2020 compared with the four previous years. Because filing precedes divorce, rates reflect more precisely the temporal dynamic of divorce initiation. Rates of initiation of divorce filings declined in 2020 to the lowest level across the period from 2016 to 2020. On average, monthly rates in 2020 were 7 percent lower than 2019 rates and 20 percent lower than 2016 rates. There is little indication that the COVID-19 pandemic had an immediate influence on divorce dynamics, although the filing rate was more depressed during lockdown periods.

Low advance directive completion rates in hospitalized oncology patients: Room for improvement.

1 Background: Advance care planning (ACP), which includes advance directive (AD) completion, ensures that patients receive care that is consistent with their beliefs and preferences. ACP is particularly important to patients with cancer as they have high rates of hospitalization and mortality. However, AD completion rates for oncology patients have been reported to be as low as 10%. We sought to evaluate barriers and improve AD completion rates in hospitalized oncology patients in our institution. Methods: 63 patients with cancer admitted to our inpatient oncology unit were surveyed. A multi-disciplinary team, consisting of resident physicians and social workers, was constituted to educate patients and provide assistance with AD completion. Barriers to AD completion were identified and AD completion and filing rates on patients’ discharge were calculated. Results: Most patients were female (66.6%) with mean age of 63.8 years. Majority of patients had stage IV cancer (71.4%) and were receiving palliative treatment (80.9%). Only 9.5% (6/63) of the patients had completed AD on file. However, 92% of the patients had previously heard about AD. After intervention, the AD filing rate improved to 41.2% (26/63). Some of the patient-reported barriers were needing more time to discuss with family (28.5%), wanting to file in clinic (23.8%), too sick to make decision (6.3%) and did not think they needed it (4.7%). Conclusions: AD completion rate in hospitalized oncology patients in our institute was lower than anticipated. We identified the barriers and improved the AD filing rate, however there is room for further improvement. While AD discussion and filing should ideally be done in clinic, hospitalization is an opportunity that should not be missed to educate and assist completion of AD. [Table: see text]

Obtaining a Sustainable Competitive Advantage from Patent Information: A Patent Analysis of the Graphene Industry

Graphene serves as the most disruptive material in the twenty-first century and plays an unsubstitutable role in solving the sustainable development problems of energy crises, water shortages, and environmental pollution. Recently, obtaining a sustainable competitive advantage (SCA) in the field of graphene has gained increasing attention from both researchers and practitioners. However, few attempts have been made to summarize the SCA of this field by applying patent information. Basing on a patent-based multi-level perspective (MLP), this study aims to develop an approach to identify SCA in the target technological area by conducting a patent review from the comprehensive perspectives of the macro landscape, meso socio-technical system, and micro niches, and then integrate patent analysis with technology life cycle (TLC) theory to examine patents involving global technological competition. The effectiveness of the approach is verified with a case study on graphene. The results show that the graphene field is an emerging and fast-growing technological field, with an increasing number of patents over the year. The TLC of graphene technology demonstrated an approximate S shape, with China, the U.S., Korea, and Japan filing the largest number of graphene patents. Evidenced by Derwent Manual Codes, we found an increase in consideration given to technological application and material preparation topics over time, and research hotspots and fronts that have SCA. In terms of a leading country or region with SCA, the U.S., with a high foreign patent filing rate, large number of high forward citation patents, strong assignees’ competitive position, and large number of high-strength patents, was still the most powerful leader, with a higher SCA in the graphene industry. Korea also obtained a relatively higher SCA and will be a promising competitor in this field. Although China was shown to be catching-up very rapidly in the total number of graphene patents, the apparent innovation gaps in the foreign patent filing rate, high value patents, and Industry-University-Research Collaboration will obviously hamper Chinese catch-up efforts for obtaining SCA. As for patentees, the most powerful leaders with a higher SCA represented by Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd, International Business Machines Corp, and Nanotek Instruments Inc were identified. In addition, most of the high strength patents were owned by the above patentees. Further, valuable contributions to the understanding of SCA in graphene technology were summarized. First, the proposed patent-based MLP provides a new and comprehensive analytical framework for review research, as well as SCA analysis, and extends its research perspectives. Second, it introduces patent indicators to the previous MLP model, and provides a new theoretical perspective for the study of technological innovation in the previous MLP model. Third, this paper employs the TLC theory to explore the dynamic SCA in the given technology field, which further develops the concept of the MLP model from the temporal dimension. Finally, future research directions were demonstrated. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first systematic review of this field using patent analysis, comprehensively acknowledging the current technological competition and development in the graphene field and that of the future, and can be applied to various other emerging technology fields.

Filing for Workers’ Compensation among Ontario Cases of Mesothelioma

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE: For many types of cancer, disease attribution to occupational exposures is difficult. Mesothelioma, however, is a ‘sentinel’ occupational cancer associated with asbestos exposure. The present study linked workers’ compensation claims data with cancer registry data to explore the completeness of reporting of mesothelioma to the Ontario Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) according to characteristics of cases diagnosed among Ontario residents.METHODS: Two data sources were linked at the person level: the WSIB Occupational Disease Information and Surveillance System and the Ontario Cancer Registry. Filing rates were calculated as the proportion of Ontario Cancer Registry mesothelioma cases (International Classification of Diseases–Oncologycode 905) that linked to a WSIB-filed cancer claim. Filing rates were calculated for the period 1980 to 2002, and trends were calculated by year, age and county of residence at diagnosis.RESULTS: The filing rate for compensation has increased little over the past 20 years, reaching a high of 43% in 2000. Overall, filing rates were highest among pleural mesothelioma cases among men (range 27% to 57%). Filing rates were highest among individuals 50 to 59 years of age and declined substantially throughout the retirement years. There was substantial variation in filing rates by area of residence, with the highest rate being in Lambton County, Ontario.CONCLUSION: The filing rate for compensation in Ontario was much lower than the estimated proportion of cases eligible for compensation. The increased filing rate in Lambton County was likely related to this community’s awareness of the association between asbestos and mesothelioma. Physicians can play an important role in educating patients of their potential entitlement to compensation benefits.

Does Indebtedness Influence Health? A Preliminary Inquiry

In recent years, consumer debt and the bankruptcy filing rate have received substantial public and media attention in the United States. That attention pales in comparison with widespread concerns and media reporting about health. Yet, both sets of discussions may be relevant to individuals and families facing a combination of health problems and financial problems. In a recent study, nearly half of the sample of individual bankruptcy filers reported they also were dealing with illness, injury, or substantial medical debt.Whether somethmg other than coincidence explains this correlation is worthy of consideration for those who study health. For some debtors, debt problems may be health-care finance issues; income interruption or financial obligations stemming from health ailments may contribute to financial downfall?The opposite relationship, however, not only is possible, but potentially more pervasive.