Korporacje transnarodowe są jednym z najważniejszych podmiotów na rynku globalnym. Ich oddziaływanie widoczne jest we wszystkich niemal dziedzinach rozwoju światowej gospodarki. Sposób funkcjonowania korporacji transnarodowych wzbudza jednak wiele kontrowersji. Przedmiotem krytyki jest zwłaszcza agresywna polityka podatkowa, często prowadząca nie tylko do unikania, ale wręcz do uchylania się od opodatkowania. Nasilające się procesy globalizacji potęgują to zjawisko, bowiem swoboda przepływu kapitału daje możliwość swobodnego transferu zysków do krajów, które słyną z liberalnej jurysdykcji podatkowej, w tym niskich stawek podatku lub zwolnień z opodatkowania. Celem artykułu jest identyfikacja instrumentów podatkowych, jakie korporacje transnarodowe wykorzystują do optymalizacji podatkowej. Do realizacji celu badawczego posłużyła krytyczna analiza literatury, danych empirycznych oraz metoda case study. W konkluzji stwierdzono, że do optymalizacji podatkowej wykorzystywane są najczęściej spółki specjalnego przeznaczenia (SPE), pośredniczące w sprzedaży eksportowej, spółki licencyjne, spółki holdingowe, a także spółki latterbox. Zjawisko unikania opodatkowania wyraźnie wzrosło, a wysokość podatków płaconych przez największe korporacje jest niewspółmierna do osiąganych przez nie wyników finansowych.
EN
Transnational corporations are one of the most important entites on the global market becouse they influence the final shape of economic relations between states and the international division of labour. Their impact is visible in almost all areas of global economy development. However, the way of their functioning arouses many controversies. The subject of criticism is, in paricular, aggressive tax policy which entites of global scale undertake while avoiding, and often even evading taxation. Increasing globalization processes intensify this phenomenon because the free flow of capital gives the possibility of free profits transfers to countries that are famous for their liberal tax jurisdiction, including low tax rates and tax exemptions. The article aims to identify the instruments functioning under the current tax systems that transnational corporations use for tax optimization. A crtical analysis of literature and empirical data as well as a case study method were used to obtain the research goal. In conclusion, it was stated that the most commonly used legal construct for tax optimization are the special purpose entities (SPE), such as export sales, license, holding and letterbox companies. The phenomenon of tax avoidance has isignificantly increased, and the amount of taxes paid by the largest corporations is disproportionate to the obtained financial results.
The idea of Corporate Social Responsibility, including its various practical aspects, is a relatively new concept, systematically becoming more and more popular in EU-27 because of potential economic, environmental and social benefits which it can bring. Areas that seem worth focusing from the point of view of possible competitive gains from CSR, concern good relations with both internal and external stakeholders. The ability to build proper relations helps to increase profits, reduce costs or enhance image, loyalty and trust among stakeholders which seems to be decisive for long term competitiveness of given enterprise or the whole economy. The paper investigates the implementation of concept of CSR in Polish economy. The author presents the examples of socially responsible firms and good practice which are undertaken in the analyzed area. Unfortunately, in case of many small and medium enterprises CSR still remains a peripheral concern. The importance of CSR cannot be underestimated in case of the whole Polish economy that aspires to be as competitive as the other Western EU countries.
Socioeconomic convergence is usually identified with the harmonization of income level across countries. According to the activist convergence approach, apart from macroeconomic performance described by such indicators as income per capita, productivity and employment rates, social matters should also be taken into account. While social convergence is being a subject of discussion it is worth to compare the differences in public spending on education, health care, R&D activity, infrastructure or social protection between EU-27 countries. Although the development gap between EU-15 and Central Eastern Europe countries has been decreased significantly since the beginning of 90s but the process of catching up with the West Europe seems to be too slow and even more difficult to achieve in future, especially as a result of EU enlargement in 2004 and 2007. That is why economic and social cohesion is nowadays one of the most important priorities of EU policy. The main purpose of this paper is to show the process of social convergence of the Polish economy compared to the European Union countries. Poland, undoubtedly, has been catching up with the EU-15 countries more quickly in the last few years, thanks to strong growth performance. In spite of the economic boom and undertaken reforms, it has failed to reduce disparities in living standards of Polish society against a background of the other UE countries.
The article is the attempt to look at the problem of the quality of intellectual capital in Poland. It is commonly known that intellectual capital is one of the main assets that will frame the success of the economies in the 21st century. It embraces several components such as human capital, structural capital and social capital. Unfortunately, the distance that separates Poland from more developed European countries with regard to intellectual capital remains great. All the components which make up intellectual capital seem to be equally important, that is why strengthening their potential is one of the necessary prerequisites to speed the process of convergence of the Polish economy. In the case of human capital, it is worth taking into account such factors as education, life experience, attitudes and skills. In the field of structural capital a special attention should not only be paid to research and developments or IT expenditure, but also to effects which structural capital can bring in the form of number of patent applications or number of scientific publication per million inhabitants. Moreover, in order to fully assess the quality of intellectual capital, its third component called social capital which includes the norms of conduct and values underpinning cooperation and exchange of knowledge, must be taken into consideration.
Competitiveness at the firm level is a subject of interest not only to managers and policy makers but also academics. An effective functioning under the conditions of new economy requires from the enterprises to develop their core capabilities and talents along with the ability to quickly identify and seize the opportunities generated by market environment. The implementation of such an approach allows the creation and sustain of economic surpluses in the long-run. The paper aims to examine the profitability of enterprises in Poland which is regarded in the context of absorption of EU funds in years 2007–2013. Taking into account that Poland became one of the largest beneficiaries, it is worth ana-lyzing the impact of EU funding on the economic performance of Polish enterpris-es. The paper offers a critical reflection on the relationship between the absorption of EU funds and Polish enterprises competitiveness on the basis of the content analysis literature and statistical data derived from the European Commission, the Central Statistical Office and the Ministry of Regional Development. It is assumed simultaneously that the competitiveness of enterprises is expressed in the term of profitability rates. In spite of limitations which relate to the adopted definition of competitiveness and the short period of the conducted analysis concerning the key relationship, the paper contributes to the debate on the significance of EU Funds in the process of building modern and innovative economy.
W artykule podjęto problem granic omnipotencji państwa w zakresie opodatkowania w świetle poglądów ekonomii klasycznej. Ze stosunkiem podatkowym wiąże się bezspornie zagrożenie dla sfery wolności ekonomicznej. Ekonomiści klasyczni dopuszczali jednak podatkową ingerencję władzy publicznej w sferę wolności jednostki. Jednocześnie zakładali, że zarówno wolność jednostki, jak i omnipotencja państwa nie powinny mieć charakteru absolutnego. Celem artykułu jest przedstawienie koncepcji wolności i granic ingerencji władzy publicznej w gospodarkę za pośrednictwem systemu podatkowego. Artykuł napisano na podstawie literatury przedmiotu, w tym materiałów źródłowych. We wnioskach stwierdzono, że chociaż państwo posiada władzę podatkową nad podatnikiem, to nie ma całkowitej dowolności i arbitralności w kształtowaniu ciężarów podatkowych. Wprowadzając podatki nie może naruszać podstawowych praw i wolności ekonomicznych, zniekształcając racjonalne decyzje jednostek gospodarujących.
The identification and estimation of the extent of fiscal illusion in the public finance system seems neces¬sary to ensure the transparency of government activity. A lack of transparency of all the operations using public funds decreases budget revenues, may adversely affect the balance of state budgets or even lead to increasing the fiscal burdens on all taxpayers. Furthermore, making expenditures outside the budget process is related to a lack of control, which is particularly important from the point of view of the efficiency and effectiveness of these expenditures. Tax expenditures, being an equivalent of direct public expenditures, serve as an example of this type of activity undertaken by the government. The lack of effective control of expenditures in this category may constitute an incentive to use these instruments in order to escape from conventional spending, which is considerably more transparent. Tax expenditures enable increasing expenses on public programs even when the government officially attempts to reduce them - all the more so that programs which have been accepted once do not require formal annual approval. In addition, the procedure of introducing them into the tax system is less complicated than in the case of direct expenditures. The study includes an analysis of the relationship between tax expenditures and direct public expenditures, using the example of the United States of America in the years 1999-2015. Data analysis has shown that the rate of growth of tax expenditures was considerably higher than in the case of direct public spending, thus creating the illusion that public finances are more stable than they are in reality.
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