Coastal Hazards & Targeted Acquisitions: A Reasonable Shoreline Management Alternative

<div> <div> <div> <p>Buyouts of vulnerable properties have become an increasingly popular tool for reducing future exposure in flood-prone communities across the U.S. However, proactive, targeted buyouts have not been common with oceanfront, investment properties despite the fact that these properties represent the “first line” of tropical storm exposure on the U.S. East and Gulf Coasts.</p> <p>Our approach is to first examine the exposure of properties on North Topsail Beach, North Carolina to coastal hazards using a Vulnerability Assessment Protocol developed for examining infrastructure vulnerability in the National Park Service. The most exposed properties are identified and a coherent, contiguous group are selected for a fiscal analysis regarding a buyout’s costs and impacts. The analysis of costs includes purchasing the properties, removal costs, and lost tax revenues. The quantifiable benefits include reduced expenditures for coastal protection, engineering design/permitting, and maintenance.</p> <p>For North Topsail Beach, North Carolina, the costs (54.8 million USD with inflation) and benefits ($57.6 million USD) represent a savings of at least 2.8 million USD over 30 years. We have used a very conservative approach to estimating the costs. We assume that owners will receive full, assessed value for their property and that all properties will be fully viable for 30 years (given the exposure to storms and hazards of the target area, this is highly unlikely even with coastal protection). Finally, we assume that the properties will appreciate in value over the time period, again, a generous assumption.</p> <p>The fiscal analysis does not include many unquantifiable benefits from the proposed targeted acquisition. These include the transfer of amenity value to other properties, reduced emergency management costs for the municipality, reduced need for consulting engineering fees, improved beach access for all residents and renters, and return of a recreational beach that all residents and guests can enjoy.</p> <p>The best argument for the proposal may be this: wouldn’t it be nice if a municipality like NTB could stop spending all of their time, energy, administrative hours, and money on 7% of the tax base (the at-risk properties examined in this report) and turn all of those resources loose on the 93% of the tax base that will be much more sustainable over the next 30 years?  This proposal is a plan for strengthening the vast majority of the tax base for the long run.</p> <p>Our goal for this series of reports is philosophical as much as practical. Invariably, buyout plans in oceanfront communities are viewed as too costly or impractical to be seriously considered. It is typical for the alternatives analysis in a storm protection EIS to dismiss the idea of targeted acquisitions in a paragraph or two. We hope that coastal communities will give more serious consideration to these buyouts as a beneficial management tool, and we hope that these case studies will spur meaningful discussions.</p> <p> </p> </div> </div> </div>

Economic freedom in Europe

The fiscal analysis is an important research topic, aiming at identifying/creating fair fiscal systems, which can respond to requests coming from both the state (which needs revenue to finance various public projects) and from taxpayers. The economic agents, but also the taxpayers will always want a reduction of the taxes, and the public decider aims to increase the revenues attracted to the budget through (higher) taxes. An optimal tax system could be characterized by taxes that produce minimal effects of distorting the behavior of taxpayers, as well as a positive impact on the development of society.

Cryptocurrencies: A political and a fiscal analysis

The existence of cryptocurrency a decade ago is an inescapable reality that at the moment generates a high financial influence at global level, the fact that obliges us to know and to study them. Our questions are essentially at three levels: their acceptance, or not, by the States in the face of the paper-money issued by their Central Banks and how the Private Banks react to this virtual currency created in particular; what actions have Tax Administrations at the global level faced with the wealth they generate and the financial values that move in the real economy. Our study is based on the doctrine that already exists, but mainly financial reports produced by central banks and private banking as well as by tax administrations. Finally, we present our conclusions on the current state of analysis and financial studies of the banking system and tax administrations and, of course, our opinion. Keywords: Cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, fiscal analysis, policies, perceptions.

Second Review of the Implementation of Government Finance Statistics Framework to Strengthen Fiscal Analysis

This paper reports on the further developments since 2013 in the implementation of the 2010 Board decision concerning Government Finance Statistics (GFS) to Strengthen Fiscal Analysis, and develops a path to continued improvement of fiscal data in the Fund. The Board decision approved (i) developing a staggered migration strategy, including tailored capacity development inside and outside the Fund taking into consideration country-specific and fiscal surveillance needs; (ii) encouraging staff to continue the effort to routinely assess financial balance sheets during surveillance; (iii) gradually expanding the coverage of fiscal data, taking into consideration country-specific circumstances and fiscal risk assessments; and (iv) reaffirming the support for the phased implementation of the GFS over the medium term.