Dominos Pizza Inc. (DPZ) News

BEIJING, Aug. 2 (UPI) -- State-run companies in China have become aggressive real estate developers that are, in part, responsible for sharp price escalation, records show.

In Beijing, land prices have soared by 750 percent since 2003, a study by the National Bureau of Economic Research in Massachusetts said, The New York Times reported Monday.

Records also show that this year state-owned companies, including some of the government's largest firms, put in the winning bid at 82 percent of the land auctions in Beijing.

The China Railway Group (OOTC:CRWOF) , a defense contractor China Ordnance Group, shipbuilder Sino Ocean and similar firms are among those outbidding private companies for large tracts of land put up for sale by municipalities.

"These are the ones that have the money to buy the land, because in China, it's the government that controls the money supply and the spending," said National University professor Deng Yongheng in Singapore.

Economists fear the surging land prices, accompanied by soaring housing costs, will result in a speculative bubble that could burst, crippling China's economy.

The burgeoning interest in real estate deals, ironically, is partly the result of the stimulus spending and the government encouraging banks to increase lending two years ago.

"It's a little like a son who borrows money from his mother," says Yang Shaofeng, head of the Conworld Real Estate Agency in Beijing.

MIAMI, Aug. 2 (UPI) -- The Miccosukees Indian tribe in Florida says casino revenues distributed to tribal members are not subject to federal tax, court papers show.

The tribe says it taxes the casino, then distributes the taxes collected to about 650 tribal members. As such, the tribe argues, since it is already a tax, it cannot be taxed a second time as income tax, The Miami Herald reported Monday.

But the IRS says the distributed funds from a business that is exempt from federal tax constitutes income that is subject to federal tax laws.

The tribe has not filed a "revenue allocation plan" with the Bureau of Indian Affairs to detail the finances for its West Miami-Dade casino and is in a legal battle with the IRS on what to disclose about the casino's earnings and how much is allocated to members.

One source said the tribe handed each of its members about $48,000 during a quarterly distribution of funds last August.

Legal experts said the tribe's arguments have lost in court in the past.

The tribe's argument is similar to having a non-profit business argue its workers are not subject to income tax, the newspaper said.

While tribal businesses are not subject to federal tax, employees of tribal businesses are. "There's no such thing as a non-taxable gift,"said attorney Dennis Whittlesey.

SUNNYVALE, Calif., Aug. 2 (UPI) -- A California e-mail security firm, Proofpoint Inc., said incidents of employers disciplining workers for what they post on the Internet are on the rise.

In 2008, 13 percent of companies with more than 1,000 workers had taken some form of disciplinary action against workers for Internet postings. This year, the number rose to 21 percent, The Detroit News reported Monday.

Nine percent of companies said this year they fired employees for Internet postings, which at times just involve workers venting about their jobs on sites like Facebook or Twitter.

In a highly publicized case, two workers at a Conover, N.C., Dominos pizza (NYSE:DPZ) franchise posted a YouTube video showing them defiling a pizza and threatening to deliver it to customers.

One of the former employees, Michael Setzer was given two years of probation in the case. The other, Kristy Hammonds, is awaiting trial and was banned from college, the newspaper said.

Both were charged with contaminating food meant for public consumption.

Keith Crosley, Proofpoint's director of market development, said the newsworthy cases are "just the tip of the iceberg."

"For every case you see in the news ... there are many more investigations and breaches that you never hear about," he said.