Business Commons^™

Taxes And Competitiveness, Michael S. Knoll

All Faculty Scholarship

Around the world, the tax laws are shaped by concerns with competitiveness. This paper provides a general theory of how taxes impact competitiveness. As part of that theory, this paper also introduces the concept of tax-based competitiveness neutrality. A tax system is competitively neutral when taxes do not cause competitors to change their relative valuations of any investments. This paper then uses that theory to evaluate tax policy in two high profile and important areas. The paper begins by describing two models of competitiveness, called the conduit or new money model and the investor or old money model. The central …

Offshore Strategies In Global Political Economy: Small Islands And The Case Of The Eu And Oecd Harmful Tax Competition Initiatives, Richard Woodward

Articles

This article investigates how recent attempts by the European Union (EU) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to clamp down on harmful tax competition will affect small island economies with offshore financial centres (OFCs). It argues that although there are legitimate concerns about the initiatives, the likelihood that small island OFCs will disappear is remote. A confluence of factors have forced the EU and OECD to dilute their original proposals to the extent that while some marginal OFCs may be driven out of existence, more sophisticated OFCs will be unharmed and may even benefit from this supposed …

The Impact Of Tax Policy On Economic Growth, Income Distribution, And Allocation Of Taxes, Robert Lawson, James Gwartney

Business Law Research

Using a sample of seventy-seven countries, this paper focuses on marginal tax rates and the income thresholds at which they apply to examine how the tax changes of the 1980s and 1990s have influenced economic growth, the distribution of income, and the share of taxes paid by various income groups. Many countries substantially reduced their highest marginal rates during the 1985-1995 period. The findings indicate that countries that reduced their highest marginal rates grew more rapidly than those that maintained high marginal rates. At the same time, the income distribution in several of the tax cutting countries became more unequal …

What Future For The Corporate Tax In The New Century?, Richard S. Simmons

Hong Kong Institute of Business Studies Working Paper Series

It has long been recognised that the corporate tax suffers from several inherent deficiencies. However, in recent years, the transformation and integration of the world economy has exacerbated and highlighted these weaknesses, placing a question mark over the future of the tax. Through an examination of the problems besetting the tax today, a critical analysis of the conventional justifications for it, and a review of economic and political factors relevant to its continued existence, this article considers its future in the new century.

Five main criticisms of the tax are identified. First, allocating profit between tax jurisdictions is becoming increasingly …

Tax Court Reverses Course On Deductions For Mba Costs, Martin H. Zern

Faculty Working Papers

Obtaining an MBA degree is an expensive and time-consuming process. The cost is ameliorated, however, if a tax deduction can be taken. Although many in the business community believe they are entitled to deduct the costs of obtaining an MBA, the fact of the matter is that a deduction is not a certainty. There have been numerous litigated cases concerning whether a deduction for the cost of an MBA should be allowed. The cases reveal, however, that it all depends on the particular facts and circumstances. This paper reviews the case law concerning the deductibility of the costs of obtaining …

Rising Expectations In Business Education, Annette M. Nellen, Marlene E. Turner

Faculty Publications

The article comments on the rising expectations in business education. It explains the term liberal education. It mentions the Liberal Education & America's Promise Campaign launched by the Association of American Colleges & Universities in 2005. The article also notes that integrative learning is particularly relevant because it melds students' professional and liberal educations.

Agency Activism As A New Way Of Life: Administrative Modification Of The Internal Revenue Code Through Limited Issue Focused Examinations, W Edward Afield

Faculty Publications By Year

In the name of increasing efficiency and better utilizing limited resources, the IRS has begun to adopt audit policies that overly favor taxpayers and greatly hinder the IRS’s ability to perform thorough audits. Highlighting this trend is a relatively new audit technique used by the Large to Mid-Size Business Division (LMSB), known as the Limited Issue Focused Examination (LIFE) Process. Under LIFE, the LMSB has attempted to involve taxpayers in the audit process by sharing responsibility for timely completion of the audit and has attempted to streamline the audit by reducing the scope of issues examined and applying materiality thresholds …