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Full-Text Articles in Law
Reconsidering International Tax Neutrality, Michael S. Knoll
Reconsidering International Tax Neutrality, Michael S. Knoll
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For decades, U.S. international tax policy has shifted back and forth between territorial-source-exemption taxation and worldwide-residence-credit taxation. The former is generally associated with capital import neutrality (CIN) and the latter with capital export neutrality (CEN). One reason why national tax policy has shifted back and forth between those benchmarks is because it is widely accepted that a tax system cannot simultaneously satisfy both CEN and CIN unless tax rates on capital are harmonized across jurisdictions. In this essay, I argue that the international tax literature contains two different and conflicting definitions for CIN. Under one definition, which goes back at …
The Corporate Income Tax And The Competitiveness Of U.S. Industries, Michael S. Knoll
The Corporate Income Tax And The Competitiveness Of U.S. Industries, Michael S. Knoll
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Hit hard by the financial crisis and recession, U.S. auto producers are seeking a massive bailout from the U.S. Congress. Many reasons are given for the U.S. auto industry’s lack of competitiveness including the U.S. corporate income tax. Although it is regularly asserted that there is a direct connection between the corporate income tax and competitiveness, what that connection is has not been carefully spelled out. In this essay, I describe how the corporate income tax directly harms the competitiveness of U.S. industries. I show that the mechanism differs depending upon whether the U.S. industry is defined as the global …
Taxation And The Competitiveness Of Sovereign Wealth Funds: Do Taxes Encourage Sovereign Wealth Funds To Invest In The United States?, Michael S. Knoll
Taxation And The Competitiveness Of Sovereign Wealth Funds: Do Taxes Encourage Sovereign Wealth Funds To Invest In The United States?, Michael S. Knoll
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Sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) control vast amounts of capital and have made and are continuing to make numerous large, high-profile investments in the United States, especially in the financial services industry. Those investments in particular and SWFs in general are highly controversial. There is much discussion of the advantages and disadvantages to the United States of investments by SWFs and there is an intense and ongoing debate over what should be the United States’ policy towards investments by SWFs. In the course of that debate, some critics have called upon the US government to abandon its long-held public position of …
International Competitiveness, Tax Incentives, And A New Argument For Tax Sparing: Preventing Double Taxation By Crediting Implicit Taxes, Michael S. Knoll
International Competitiveness, Tax Incentives, And A New Argument For Tax Sparing: Preventing Double Taxation By Crediting Implicit Taxes, Michael S. Knoll
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Tax sparing occurs when a country with a worldwide tax system grants its citizens foreign tax credits for the taxes that they would have paid on income earned abroad, but that escapes taxation by virtue of foreign tax incentives. The supporters of tax sparing argue that it is a form of foreign aid, an obligation owed to developing countries, and a legitimate means of improving the competitiveness of resident investors. Tax sparing, however, has long been opposed by the United States on the grounds that it is an expensive and problematic concession to developing countries, inconsistent with basic and fundamental …
The Quest To Tax Interest Income: Stages In The Development Of International Taxation, Ilan Benshalom
The Quest To Tax Interest Income: Stages In The Development Of International Taxation, Ilan Benshalom
Faculty Working Papers
The Article offers a new perspective on the way international income tax has developed from its nascency, 85 years ago, to the present day. Its main claim is that, due to the lack of a clear normative tax agenda, trade considerations unduly eroded the income tax base. Such trade considerations highlight the importance of reducing tax obstacles on trade and investment to liberalize and integrate international markets. These considerations penetrated international income tax discourse during the Cold War period, when liberalizing trade was part of a broader western agenda to establish dominance through the liberalization of international markets. The Article …
The Ubit: Leveling An Uneven Playing Field Or Tilting A Level One?, Michael S. Knoll
The Ubit: Leveling An Uneven Playing Field Or Tilting A Level One?, Michael S. Knoll
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After grateful alumni acquired the Mueller Spaghetti Company on behalf of New York University, and the courts held that the university did not have to pay tax on the pasta maker’s income, Mueller’s competitors cried foul. Congress responded to their pleas and enacted the unrelated business income tax (UBIT). The UBIT subjects an otherwise tax-exempt entity, such as a charitable institution or a religious organization, to tax on its income from a trade or business that is not substantially related to the organization’s tax-exempt purpose. The UBIT is widely viewed as leveling the playing field between taxable for-profit businesses and …
Taxes And Competitiveness, Michael S. Knoll
Taxes And Competitiveness, Michael S. Knoll
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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 …