Taxation-Transnational Commons^™

Does Climate Disclosure Work To Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions? Emerging Evidence Suggests Cautious Optimism, Cynthia A. Williams

Seattle University Law Review

Significant regulatory resources have been spent developing global, voluntary climate and sustainability disclosure standards, such as the TCFD, TNRD, and ISSB’s Sustainability and Climate Disclosure standards, or domestically required disclosures, such as in the EU and in the U.S. Thus, it is important to evaluate whether this disclosure, particularly voluntary, qualitative disclosure, will have the power to shift the allocation of capital, will have a significant effect on the management of climate risk within firms, and ultimately will reduce climate change risk and biodiversity loss.

In this Article, several interrelated questions will be discussed. First, what does the empirical evidence …

Measuring Location-Specific Rents, David Elkins

Cardozo International & Comparative Law Review

No abstract provided.

Enforcing International Humanitarian Law Through The Business Responsibility To Respect Human Rights, Tara Van Ho

Cardozo International & Comparative Law Review

Insulation produced by the Danish company Rockwool or its Russian subsidiary lines thirty-one Russian Navy warships. Though not a weapon, this material is essential to the vessels' operation. Did Rockwool have a responsibility under international law to stop the transfer of the insulation to the Russian Navy before Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine? This article examines the business responsibilities under the 2011 United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights ("UNGPs'). In doing so, the article finds that the business responsibility to respect human rights in the UNGPs provides a strong mechanism for enforcing international humanitarian law ("IHL'). However, …

A Comparative Approach To Documentation Methods And Avoiding Transfer Pricing Penalties: Is The United States Justified In Its Approach Of Enforcing Penalties Under Section 6662?, Atalya Santos

Cardozo International & Comparative Law Review

No abstract provided.

Un Tax Negotiations: North-South Tensions And The Challenge Of Institutional Legitimacy, Assaf Harpaz

Scholarly Works

The drafting process for a United Nations Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation, along with two early protocols, is now underway. A UN framework convention represents a Global South effort to shift international tax policymaking from the OECD to the UN. For developing countries, the UN has long been viewed as a more inclusive space for tax policy negotiations, producing more favorable but historically less influential standards compared to the OECD.

Support for the UN framework convention, including its terms of reference, has been sharply divided across traditional Global North-South lines. The backlash following the OECD’s recent two-pillar reform triggered …

The Shifting Economic Allegiance Of Capital Gains, Amanda Parsons

Publications

No abstract provided.

Reading The Tea Leaves: Unrealized Income, Separation Of Powers, And An Examination Of Whether There Is More To The Moore Case Than The Mandatory Repatriation Tax, Natasha Varyani

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Global Tax Wars In The Digital Era, Assaf Harpaz

Scholarly Works

The digital economy fundamentally disrupts international tax principles that rely on physical presence. When a business earns income abroad, the country of residence (where the taxpayer resides) and the country of source (where income is generated) both have legitimate, competing claims to tax that income. The international tax system tends to favor residence-based taxation. The source country has the right to tax business profits only if the enterprise carries on a permanent establishment within its borders, which typically requires physical presence. The permanent establishment standard becomes flawed in a digital economy where profit shifting practices are abundant and businesses no …

Is The Obbba Compatible With Pillar 2?, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah

Articles

In this installment of Reflections With Reuven Avi-Yonah, Avi-Yonah compares House and Senate sections of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and examines the potential effect on international tax relations. On May 22 the House of Representatives passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). The House version of the OBBBA extended the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act tax cuts but did not significantly change its international provisions. It did, however, contain proposed section 899, which would have imposed enhanced taxation on residents and corporations from countries that have “discriminatory or extraterritorial taxes,” defined to include primarily the undertaxed profits …

Volume 48 Masthead, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Volume 48 Masthead

Voting Matters: Materiality Considerations And The Shareholder Vote, Renee M. Jones

Seattle University Law Review

For the shareholder franchise to have meaning, shareholders must have access to relevant information to inform their voting decisions. The securities laws’ disclosure requirements play an essential role in informing the shareholder vote.

This Essay focuses on the question of the materiality of information in the context of shareholder voting. It addresses the question of whether ESG-related information is material, positioning the materiality inquiry within the context of shareholders’ voting decisions. It explores the definition of materiality with a focus on the “reasonable investor” concept embedded within the definition. The Essay argues that the implicit expectations of many commentators that …

Volume 48 Masthead, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Volume 48 Masthead

Understanding The Big Three’S Wavering Support Of Environmental And Social Shareholder Proposals, Jeff Schwartz, Jefferson Jensen

Seattle University Law Review

Because of their substantial equity portfolios, BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street (the Big 3) are central players in corporate governance. It is, therefore, critical to understand how they vote. One puzzle is that their support for shareholder proposals on environmental and social matters appears to waiver. In 2020, for instance, BlackRock supported 11.1% of environmental proposals at S&P 500 firms. In 2021, it seemingly reversed course, supporting 55.2%. It then flipped again, supporting 32.1% in 2022. Such statistics suggest that the Big 3 are constantly changing their views on these topics. This Article seeks to better understand whether this is …

Volume 48 Masthead, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Volume 48 Masthead

Eliminating Qbai - One Step Forward, Two Steps Back?, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah

Articles

In this installment of Reflections With Reuven Avi-Yonah, Avi-Yonah explains what makes an effective U.S. tax regime and uses those attributes to evaluate the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. There is plenty to criticize about the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA, P.L. 119-21), signed into law by President Trump on July 4. It increases the deficit by about $4 trillion when the interest costs from the additional borrowing are included, and by about $5.5 trillion if its provisions are made permanent in 2029, like the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act provisions were in 2025. It is distributionally skewed to …

Us Policy And Pillar 2: The Evolution Of Us Tax Policy Toward Oecd Pillar 2 And Its Global Implications, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah

Articles

This paper analyzes the United States’ evolving position on OECD Pillar 2, focusing on the Trump administration’s initial rejection and subsequent negotiations to exempt US multinationals from the Undertaxed Profits Rule (UTPR). It examines the legislative and diplomatic strategies that led to international acceptance of GILTI as a valid IIR. The analysis concludes that the resulting compromise preserves US tax sovereignty while maintaining the global framework’s integrity.