Answar these Questione Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Answar these Questione - Assignment Example This led to the development of the 1992 Civil Liability Convention and the 1992 Fund Convention. These two provide a wider range of  application  on  various  aspects, as well as more flexible limits of compensation than the previous versions of the convention (The Secretariat of the International Oil Pollution Compensation Funds, 2004). Any  individual  who has received more than 150 000 tonnes of crude oil, as well as  heavy  oil in one year, and is in a member state of the 1992 Fund Convention is  liable  to contribute to the fund. However, the levy of these contributions depends on reports of oil receipts with regards to  individual  contribution. The fact that the receiver could be a company owned by a state, a government agency, or a private company is a significant determinant of applying the  levy (International Oil Pollution Compensation Funds, 2009). According to the Gard Group (2011), member states need to report to the Fund Convention the name and address of any liable person to contribute and the  amount  of contributing oil they receive in that state, yearly. The only exceptions to reporting to the Fund Convention  are associated  persons such as subsidiaries and  commonly  controlled entities. In addition, the Fund levies annual contributions to its members who  pay  a certain amount per tonne of contributing oil they  receive, so as to meet the projected expenses of the coming year (The Secretariat of the International Oil Pollution Compensation Funds, 2004). In the 1992 Fund, there was a  protocol  adopted in 2003 that gave way to the establishment of the third tier of compensation on 3 March 2005, through the Supplementary Fund. The provision of the Supplementary Fund the  limitation  to paying for compensation for pollution  damage  for only the incidents that occur after the state in question accepts the Protocol. Notably, being a member of the Supplementary Fund is not a must and any

Gun Control in the US Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Gun Control in the US - Research Paper Example Between the years 1997 and 2001, there were more than 30 such incidents that took place in schools, offices, and various other places, all over US, which resulted in the deaths of 139 people and another 188 being wounded. However, it was after the Columbine High School incident, public outrage reached its peak and there was a mass outcry to bring in stringent laws for gun control. After the initial outpour of rage and massive protests against the National Rifle Association (the champion of liberal gun usage in US), things have drifted back to their original conditions. In June 2010 we find a disturbing piece of news that tells us â€Å"The US Supreme Court found Monday a Chicago handgun ban to be unconstitutional in a far-reaching ruling that makes it much harder for states and city governments to limit gun ownership† (Ogle, US Supreme Court limits gun control by states). So again its status quo and we are back to where we had started, with the court giving a free hand to all potential killers. This article will take an in-depth look at this issue of gun control and the related controversies in US. It will explore as to why US have more gun violence than other countries, and will suggest measures to reduce this peril. From various studies and reports it has been seen that almost 40% of US homes have some sort of guns or fire ammunitions in their possession. Krug, Powell and Dahlberg in their research papers have come to the conclusion that the homicide rates in the American countries is almost 2-10 times higher than any other country in the developed world (Krug, Powell and Dahlberg, 214-221). There is no doubt that violence in some form or the other is present in almost all countries worldwide, but what increases the death rate in US is the rampant presence of guns. This relation between easy availability of guns in US and the high mortality rate has been proven in their research work by the famous

Tax avoidance,tax evasion,tax mitigiation Essay

Tax avoidance,tax evasion,tax mitigiation - Essay Example Tax avoidance and Tax evasion are two of the most common terms and concepts used and utilized by the taxpayers in escaping from payment of taxes. Learning and understanding these terms will help the taxpayers avoid criminal and civil liabilities. Tax avoidance is a means to escape from taxation, which is allowed and sanctioned by law. A taxpayer committing this will not be legally held civilly or criminally liable to the government provided it is used in good faith and within the process allowed by law, otherwise the taxpayer will be committing tax evasion which is a crime. The utilization of the means and methods sanctioned by law would enable the taxpayer reduce the amount due to be taxed. Example of tax avoidance is when the taxpayer structures his/her any legitimate transaction to save tax and such transaction is what would really appear in form. And this transaction if the taxpayer is the vendee or payee could declare this as deduction. Tax Evasion on the other hand, is reductio n or elimination of tax due by means outside the law. It is illegally committed and punishable by law. A corporation, individual and other entity may resort to means in order to avoid paying the taxes. And the means employed is always dishonest like declaring less or no income, less profits or no gains than the taxpayer actually earned or it could be committed by inflating deductions. For example, a corporation will evade tax by declaring charitable contributions of $ 2.5 million as deduction although what was actually contributed is $.5 million only. The law does not allow this and anyone caught doing this will be held criminally and civilly liable. The difference between tax avoidance and tax evasion is on the tax itself. In tax avoidance, the taxpayer is legally avoiding the payment of any tax liability that is not in existence at the time. Meaning to say, there is no tax due at the moment of transaction and the taxpayer utilized method within the law so that no tax liability wou ld be incurred later or if there is, it would be less. In tax avoidance, there is already a tax due to be paid and the taxpayer resort to illegal means so that it will not be able to pay the owed tax. This type entails concealment or misrepresentation of earnings that are taxable immediately.. Tax mitigation is also similar to tax avoidance. Both resort to means not prohibited by law. Sometimes, these two concepts are used interchangeably. Tax mitigation is known as tax planning to mitigate or reduce tax liability. It is a conduct made to reduce tax liability without conducting tax avoidance or which is contrary to the intention of the Parliament. There are conducts which are allowed for tax mitigation and which are not in the case of tax avoidance. It is important in distinguishing one from the other, especially the two concepts which are tax avoidance and tax evasion because it will help the taxpayer in understanding the consequences of each conduct to reduce tax liability. Since tax avoidance is a criminal offense punishable by law, knowing the distinction would save one from committing this criminal offense while saving money from taxes without breaking the law. It will help taxpayers to arrange their affairs and keep taxes as low as possible. The tax code is confusing not only for average people but also for those knowledgeable professionals. Hence, it is important to define these two concepts so as not to fall into a criminally punishable offense. The Ramsay Principle: My understanding This principle emanated for two cases : W. T. Ramsay Ltd. v. Inland Revenue Commissioners, Eilbeck (Inspector of Taxes) v. Rawling, [1982] A.C. 300 and IRC v. Burmah Oil Co. Ltd., [1982] S.T.C. 30, H.L.(Sc.)decided by the House of Lords in connection with tax payment and schemes resorted to avoid it. In this case, the company in order to lessen the amount of taxes for the transaction of transfer of assets and payment resorted to scheme by drafting sets of documents,

Public Administration; the constitution Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Public Administration; the constitution - Essay Example At government level, the relations between countries have become somewhat tense due to increased terrorism and consequent allegations on the terrorist groups belonging to neighboring countries. At public level, the relations have become stronger due to increased cultural and social diversity in many countries. The article 1 of the United States constitution mainly deals with the government structure, legislative powers, legislative responsibilities of the members of the Senate and the House of Representatives, and constitutional and taxation activities of the states. This article provides a solid foundation on which the structure of the government is formed and legal responsibilities and restrictions are communicated to the officials. The article 2 of the constitution mainly talks about the executive and legislative powers of The President of the United States. The section 4 is a little different as it talks about the factors that can lead to the termination of services of all government officials including The

Case analysis Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Case analysis - Assignment Example Further, the company introduced e-books which most people found convenient and were environmental friendly than print books. Therefore, the company opted to receive and reuse unwanted books, which they thought was still an appealing option for green consumer. The firm gave the community and the school a nonprofit equity stake, which offered them with high financial value in case the firm was sold or merged. In turn, this would ensure that such nonprofit partners understand that future stock alternatives were going to rely on their performance as a company in ensuring literacy level is on the raise. It is evident that as the company expanded, it had to rethink about its donation percentage since the current donation practice disadvantaged it. Therefore, the management was forced to amend the original fifteen percent of all sales because when the company expanded nationally, the average sale of university and college books started dwindling, which meant that, they were operating under a loss. The company continued to perform dismally but changes in oil and gas prices positively affected the company in the sense that the fifteen percent donation increased the firm’s gross margin. Initially, the company had thought of giving half of its profit margins to nonprofit partners such as the community and the school. However, they realized that this concept was a big problem to external investors. If they could give half of the company’s profit margins, it meant creation of lower valuation for the firm because investors would claim fifty percent of what they might have received otherwise. In turn, this would lead to inability to raise funds thus straining themselves. Better World Books donated over $ 8 million to international literacy programs via the sale of its books. Since the company sold over 10,000 copies of books on daily basis, it attained a profit margin

Causes of corruption & its remedies Essay Example for Free

Causes of corruption its remedies Essay An act done with intent to give some advantage inconsistent with official duty and the rights of others. It includes bribery, but is more comprehensive; because an act may be corruptly done, though the advantage to be derived from it be not offered by another. Sometimes corruption is understood as something against law; such as, a contract by which the borrower agreed to pay the lender usurious interest. It is said, in such case, that it was corruptly agreed, etc. CAUSES OF CORRUPTION: The causes of corruption are many and complex. Following are some of the causes of corruption.  µ Emergence of political elite who believe in interest-oriented rather than nation-oriented programmes and policies.  µ Artificial scarcity created by the people with malevolent intentions wrecks the fabric of the economy.  µ Corruption is caused as well as increased because of the change in the value system and ethical qualities of men who administer. The old ideals of morality, service and honesty are regarded as an achronistic.  µ Tolerance of people towards corruption, complete lack of intense public outcry against corruption and the absence of strong public forum to oppose corruption allow corruption to reign over people.  µ Vast size of population coupled with widespread illiteracy and the poor economic infrastructure lead to endemic corruption in public life.  µ In a highly inflationary economy, low salaries of government officials compel them to resort to the road of corruption. Graduates from IIMs with no experience draw a far handsome salary than what government secretaries draw.  µ Complex laws and procedures alienate common people to ask for any help from government.  µ Election time is a time when corruption is at its peak level. Big industrialist fund politicians to meet high cost of election and ultimately to seek personal favour. Bribery to politicians buys influence, and bribery by politicians buys votes. In order to get elected, politicians bribe poor illiterate people, who are slogging for two times’ meal. REMEDIES OF CORRUPTION Is it possible to contain corruption in our society? Corruption is a cancer, which every Indian must strive to cure. Many new leaders when come into power declare their determination to eradicate corruption but soon they themselves become corrupt and start amassing huge wealth. Many People become materialistic and money oriented, there is no important of ethics and morals in business dealings. Many people thinking that money which coming to their pocket is good, same way many thinking that money which going out from their pocket is bad, but they don’t consider the way money traveling. This is because these kinds of people have no moral accountability to anybody; and these kind have people have full trust on money, they strongly believing that money can hold big role in their life, they believing that money can solve their current and future problems, they believing that money can give them life without problems. Some of the remedies are given below:  µ What can be remedy of corruption? It can be only possible if people can understand and start to believe the values of ethics and morality in their life. People will start to believe that their life is accountable if they really start to believe in GOD, in oneness of GOD and if they really start to live life on the way which GOD has chosen for mankind. GOD has given the wisdom to each and every human being, heart of everyone telling him/her that the way he/she following to get money is good/bad. The most important thing is person should listen and follow the good part of his heart.  µ Foolproof laws should be made so that there is no room for discretion for politicians and bureaucrats. The role of the politician should be minimized. Application of the evolved policies should be left in the hands of independent commission or authority in each area of public interest. Decision of the commission or authority should be challengeable only in the courts.  µ Cooperation of the people has to be obtained for successfully containing corruption. People should have a right to recall the elected representatives if they see them becoming indifferent to the electorate.  µ Funding of elections is at the core of political corruption. Electoral reforms are crucial in this regard. Several reforms like: State funding of election expenses for candidates; strict enforcement of statutory requirements like holding in-party elections, making political parties get their accounts audited regularly and filing income-tax returns; denying persons with criminal records a chance to contest elections, should be brought in.  µ Responsiveness, accountability and transparency are a must for a clean system. Bureaucracy, the backbone of good governance, should be made more citizen friendly, accountable, ethical and transparent.  µ More and more courts should be opened for speedy inexpensive justice so that cases don’t linger in courts for years and justice is delivered on time.  µ Local bodies, Independent of the government, like Lokpals, Lokadalats, CVCs and Vigilance Commissions should be formed to provide speedy justice with low expenses.  µ A new Fundamental Right viz. Right to Information should be introduced, which will empower the citizens to ask for the information they want. Barring some confidential information, which concerns national and international security, other information should be made available to general public as and when required. Stringent actions against corrupt officials will certainly have a deterrent impact. CONCLUSION Corruption is an intractable problem. It is like diabetes, can only be controlled, but not totally eliminated. It may not be possible to root out corruption completely at all levels but it is possible to contain it within tolerable limits. Honest and dedicated persons in public life, control over electoral expenses could be the most important prescriptions to combat corruption. Corruption has a corrosive impact on our economy. It worsens our image in international market and leads to loss of overseas opportunities. Corruption is a global problem that all countries of the world have to confront, solutions, however, can only be home grown. I used the sentence â€Å"we the common man are the solution† because we are the only reason why corruption is so popular in INDIA. We are the persons who are motivating corruption to be successful. We support corruption that is why it exits. Since we are the only person who elects ministers that are supporting corruption in INDIA. Common citizen of INDIA let us start working from now onwards with common goal of removing corruption from INDIA. Think the day when we will achieve our goal and whole world will say â€Å"INDIA IS AN DEVELOPED COUNTRY.

Overview of the Indian Economy

Overview of the Indian Economy The Indian economy has shown a remarkable growth after the adoption of liberalization policy. The opening up of the Indian economy in the early 1990s led to increase in industrial output and simultaneously raised the inflation Rate in India. There was an immense pressure on the inflation rate due to the stupendous growth rate of employment and industrial output. The main concern of the Reserve Bank of India (the central bank) and the Ministry of Finance, Government of India was the prevalent and intermittent rise of the inflation rate. Increasing inflation rate could be detrimental to the projected growth of Indian economy. Thus, the Reserve Bank of India was putting checks and measures in various policies so as to put a stop to the rising inflation. The Indian business community and the general public were assured by the central bank that the inflationary rise was harmless but still certain apprehensions existed among them. The pricing disparity of agricultural products between the producer and end-consumer was contributing to the increasing Inflation Rate. Apart from this the steep rise of prices of food products, manufacturing products, and necessities had also catapulted the Inflation Rate. As a result of all this, the Wholesale Prices Index (WPI) of India reached 6.1% and the Cash Reserve Ratio touched 5.5% on 6th January, 2007. The Reserve Bank of India gave top priority to price stability in its recently drafted monetary policy so as to arrest the panic and discomfort amongst the Indian business circles. It also aims to sustain the stupendous rate of economic growth of India. The Reserve Bank of India raised the Cash Reserve Ratio and used it as a tool to arrest the increasing Inflation Rate. Rationalizing the pricing disparity between the producer and the consumer is the only solution to this problem. Only this will ensure inflation stabilization and thus sustainable economic growth of India. From the beginning of FY2008 the Indian economy faced a rise in the prices of vegetables, pulses and other basic food stuffs. All this was accompanied with sharp rise in the prices when the annual policy statement for 2008-09 was unveiled on April 29. Inflation increased steadily during the year, reaching 8.75% by the end of May and in June when this figure jumped to 11% then there was an alarming increase in the prices. There were many reasons for it but one of the main driving forces was reduction in government fuel subsidies, which lifted gasoline prices by an average 10%. Indeed, by July 2008, the key Indian Inflation Rate i.e. the Wholesale Price Index touched the mark of 12.6%, highest rate in past 16 years of the Indian history. This was almost three times the RBIs target of 4.1% and almost doubled as compared to last year. This continuous rise slipped back to 12.4% by mid-August. Since the beginning of 2008 combination of various internal and external factors led to steep domestic inflation and the resultant steps taken to control it in were slowing the pace of expansion. These factors included the marked rise in the international prices of oil, food, and metals, moderating the rate of capital inflows, worsening current and fiscal account deficits, increasing cost of funds, minor depreciation of the Indian rupee against the dollar, and slow growth in industrial economies. The Indian economy was at a critical juncture where policies to contain inflation and ensure macroeconomic stabilization have taken center stage. In the first quarter of FY2008 (i.e. April -June), growth rate of GDP slowed down to 7.9% from 9.2% in the corresponding prior-year quarter, for the slowest expansion in three and a half years. The most remarkable decline was in industry where growth rate fell to 6.9% this was mainly because of cutting in the manufacturing growth rate to 5.6%. The slowdown was widened when agriculture and services sector showed a negligible growth of 1.4% and 0.9% points, below their performances of the year-earlier quarter.Over the medium term, the main objective of the government was to bring down inflation to 3%. The Repo and Reverse Repo Rates remained unchanged whereas Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) was increased by 0.25 percentage points. A survey of manufacturing companies was conducted by the Reserve Bank of India in June 2008 which indicated a moderation in business optimism. This was corroborated by the composite business optimism index for July -September 2008 that was prepared by Dun and Bradstreet, which shows a decline of 11.2% as compared to the previous quarter. In July, the BBB- rating on foreign currency debt was confirmed but downgraded the viewfor Indias long -term local currency debt from stable to negative, with a noticeable deterioration in the fiscal position.Growth of the broad money supply (M3) had to be moderated in the range of 16.5 to 17 per cent. While deposits were scheduled to rise by 17% and non-food credit disbursements by banks will grow at a slow rate of 20% as compared to 22.5% in 2007-08. Credit disbursed by banks last year was less as compared to the previous period. Bank credit had grown by a scorching 30% every year for consecutively three years beginning in 2004-05. The combined budget deficits of the central and state governments have been substantially reduced over the past 5 years. This reflected sincere efforts by the government to adhere to fiscal responsibility legislation. For FY2008, the central Governments deficit is budgeted at 2.5% of GDP and the states at 2.1% (4.6% of GDP on a consolidated basis). The major factors that strengthen the appreciable fiscal consolidation from the base were a wider tax base supported by a buoyant economy and improved compliance. Two main situations that must be overcome before achieving the deficit targets for the FY2008 are: a slowing economy that may limit the revenue buoyancy seen in recent years and continuous pressure by the Central Government to raise the salaries of its employees by 21% (about 0.3% of GDP) in response to recommendations of the Sixth Central Pay Commission. Similar wage increases were announced immediately by half a dozen states and others were following the suit. On the other hand provision for these salary increases was not budgeted. EFFECTS Inflationary pressures in any economy leads to depreciation of its domestic currency. This is what our Indian economy was facing due to the running inflation and as a result Indian rupee depreciated by about 20% since April 2008. Inflation affects- 1.Common man: Inflation effects a common man in different roles such as a consumer: Products such as crude oil, fertilizers, pharmaceutical products, ores and metals, or use imported components such as Personal Computers and laptops are directly imported. Due to depreciation of the Indian Rupee all these goods became very expensive. Components in computers such as processor, hard disk drive and motherboard are also imported. Products such as mouse, keyboard and monitor also witnessed an impact on their prices due to Rupee depreciation. Inflation may rise in an economy when the input costs increase. As an investor: Depreciation of rupee makes imports of various components, capital goods and raw materials more expensive. As inputs and other equipment that are imported get costlier and reducing the profit margins. Companies that import goods in bulk and those with heavy foreign currency borrowings may be marked down in the stock market as the rupee depreciates. As a Wage-earner: During inflation this class of common man suffered a lot because of two reasons- Increase in wages and salaries failed to keep pace with the rising prices. Wages increased during inflation but there is always a time lag between the rise in price and increase in wages. As a result common man looses during the intervening period. Export companies: Due to depreciation of domestic currency exporters receive better prices for their goods and services when sold in foreign markets. Foreign Investors: Depreciation of Indian Rupee reduced the returns that foreign investors used to earn by investing in Indian companies. Depreciation of a currency triggered FII outflows. NRI investors, who previously invested their money in India under various deposit schemes due to high interest rates, started finding those schemes less attractive on account of rupee depreciation. Countrys Balance of Payments: One of the drawbacks of depreciation of Rupee is that exports become cheap in terms of foreign currency and imports become costlier. Current account deficit widened because Indian imports basically constitutes essentials such as crude oil, natural resources and many capital goods. Depreciation of Indian Rupee made the exports more competitive globally and as a result higher exports covered up the trade deficit. Farmers: The prices of the primary commodities such as minerals, diesel oil and fuel, power light and lubricants went up significantly. This disparity affected the agricultural sector in two ways- It had a restrictive effect on investments in farming and affected the production efficiency. On one hand the agricultural commodity prices were falling or stagnant and on the other hand increasing prices of agriculture inputs and other daily life commodities led to deterioration in the living standard of the farmers. Prices paid by the consumer have impacted by the cost of living of the entire value chain, which grows on the inefficient markets and this adds to the final cost of the material. For example, high energy cost itself has contributed to the increase in the cost of inputs required for agriculture besides pushing up the marketing costs of farm products. IT companies: The IT sector is amongst the highest recruiters in the Indian economy and a depreciating rupee spells good news for the sector. Bills for Information Technology companies are basically prepared in dollars or in other foreign currencies. Depreciation of the rupee increased their realizations and bodes well for their margins. The main reason for the good performance in the second quarter of Infosys Technologies and Satyam Computers was the depreciation of the Indian Rupee. An estimate suggests that a 1 per cent depreciation in the rupee expands an IT companys margins by 0.30-0.40 per cent. CONCLUSION Majority of Indias population lies close to the poverty line and inflation acts as a à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬-Poor Mans Tax. More than half of the income of this group is spent on food and this effect is amplified when food prices rise. The dramatic increase in inflation will have economic as well as political implications for the Congress Government, with an election due within a year. Economic growth rate in the emerging markets have slowed down but is far from over. The BRIC countries i.e. Brazil, Russia, India and China alone account for more than 3 billion people and with consumption rate increasing every year. It is expected that the high inflation rates will be there for a long period of time which is worrying news for the Indian Government. Direct regulatory measures such as the reduction in import tariffs were adopted in order relax the supply-side pressures on various agricultural commodities. While adopting the direct measures, the Government realized that the relaxation of supply-side pressures would dampen inflationary expectations by increasing supplies in the commodities market. The RBIs attempt to control excess liquidity in the market byraising the interest rates pushed up real-estate prices as well as the commodity prices, thus fuelling inflation. A closer look at certain commodities would reveal that the prices of sugar and wheat were managed by the Government through various market intervention mechanisms. As a result the physical market’s role in effective price discovery was affected. Trade in the commodities market operated in an asymmetrical information situation from both the supply and demand sides. Hence, market operations could only benefit segments that were privy to the available information. The existing agricultural market ecosystem revolves around the traders and to some extent the producers with no say from side of consumers. Hence, at the end both consumers and producers are often at a loss. Generally, traders keep a heavy margin to compensate for the physical and financial risk involved in carrying the commodity for short as well as long term.