Lina Sineviciene

In the context of transition to the sustainable development actually justified and economically balanced managerial decisions are worth to be introduced into activity of the business entities. First of all, it is connected with the formation of the social standards by the Ukrainian government. Establishment of the minimum salary for the employees of the national economic complex of the country is one of the main components of these standards. This indicator influences both the increase of the population’s social welfare provision level and on the economy of the economic entities, including business representatives. Research was conducted in Ukraine. The main trends of the social welfare provision of the business sector entities, including the experience of Hungary and Russia, were analyzed in this article. The main rules of the effective social welfare provision, accounting the necessities of the business environment, were formed. Economical analysis of the retrospective and predictive information about the payroll payment and payment of social contributions was made. The influence of the increase of the minimum salary on the activity of business entities, taking into account raised minimum salary, was analyzed. The regressive model of the payroll budget dependence, accounting minimum salary and social contributions’ level increase, was designed. Obtained calculation results showed high level of tax burden on the business sector entities, so, organization-economic measures of tax burden decrease on the business entities were offered. They took into account minimum salary growth for their employees in the context of the transition to the sustainable development. Recommendations concerning the further scientific researches on the topic of the article were offered.

The main objective of this research is to study the role and impact of fiscal decentralization on the macroeconomic stability of the country. The paper analyzes and systematizes approaches to the definition of ‘macroeconomic stability’ concept. The key factors that impact macroeconomic stability are identified. In the framework of this research, the authors identify fiscal decentralization as one of the factors affecting macroeconomic stability. To determine the strength and statistical significance of the above mentioned relationship, the authors suggest presenting macroeconomic stability as a functional dependency between macroeconomic stability and the level of fiscal decentralization, which is described by the following variables: the growth rate of money supply, investment and openness of the economy, fiscal decentralization. In this case, it is suggested to determine the level of fiscal decentralization in three directions: expenditure decentralization, revenue decentralization and expenditure decentralization simultaneously.

Rapid economic reforms and proper GDP growth in China has affected the regional development of Chinese provinces. This study aims to estimate the degree of economic and environmental disparities within Chinese provinces for developing policy recommendations of regional transformation. The reduced log-linear specification of endogenous growth model is used for the estimation of convergence rates within Chinese provinces. The empirical results prove that an increase of 1% in GDP per capita basic year reduces the economic growth rate by 0.1% in the reference year. Thus, the ratio of the average per capita income in the wealthiest group to poorest provinces accounted for the factor 9.6 in 1995 and factor 4.1 in the year 2015, which means a reduction of disproportionate development. Environmental convergence trends were also found and less polluted provinces eventually increase emissions at higher rates than the initially polluted ones. With the pass of time, all provinces do move to the same steady state in environmental parameters. The speed of the economic and environmental convergence in China provinces is rather slow, and the economic growth was achieved by great sacrifices of an environment, since all provinces are striving to the same steady state in terms of pollution increase. The industrialized regions due to the presence of significant financial resources should pay more attention to the protection of the environment using all the available economic potential. At the same time, both initially poor provinces and rich have to develop more profoundly agriculture, tourism, recreation, and other environmentally friendly industries to improve economic performance.

Type of the article: Research Article

Abstract
The modern tax system must support the transition to a carbon-neutral economy. Increasing the environmental tax burden is the most effective measure to achieve this goal. In this context, it is essential to assess the determinants of energy tax rates in European Union countries and understand the crucial conditions for making informed policy decisions. This study contributes to the existing literature by examining the determinants of energy tax rates. It incorporates not only macroeconomic, energy efficiency, and environmental factors, but also indicators of companies’ financial performance. The study analyzes a sample of European Union countries from 2010 to 2020, using fixed effects panel regression analysis. The results indicate a negative relationship between energy tax rates and energy intensity (β = –0.347), the return on equity of non-financial companies (β = –0.058), and investments (β = –0.202). The results indicate that energy tax policies in European Union countries are primarily influenced by incentives related to economic growth, specifically energy consumption (β = 0.389), renewable energy (β = 0.076), trade openness (β = 0.544), and the level of public debt (β = 0.234). The results show that environmental motives are not yet a significant factor in the decision-making to increase energy tax rates. The findings indicate that when determining energy tax rates, national governments must carefully consider the balance between environmental motives and the potential consequences for the financial performance of non-financial corporations and their investments, especially in countries with energy-intensive industries.