Taxation-Transnational Commons^™

Two Critiques Of Multiculturalism, Ayelet Shachar

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Tax Competition And E-Commerce, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah

Articles

In the last four years, there has been increasing concern by developed countries about the potential erosion of the corporate income tax base by "harmful tax competition" (in the European Union since 1997, in the OECD since 1998). However, the data on tax competition available to date present a mixed and somewhat puzzling picture. On the one hand, there is considerable evidence that effective corporate income tax rates in many countries have been declining, and that the worldwide effective tax rates on multinational enterprises (MNEs) have been going down as well. On the other hand, macroeconomic data from developed countries …

Implications Of Singapore's Income And Consumption Tax Policies On International E-Commerce Transactions Of Digitized Products, Neal Harold Luna

Washington International Law Journal

The Internet's current architecture allows international e-commerce transactions of digitized goods to go untaxed by the country in which the income was earned or the product consumed. The inability of these countries to tax such transactions will erode their tax bases as e-commerce in digitized products grows relative to other commercial forms. To forestall the erosion of its tax base, Singapore's revenue authority boldly extends its existing consumption and income tax policies to e-commerce. Singapore's proposed e-commerce tax regime is a model from which other countries—both those with similar tax regimes, such as the E.U. member economies, and those that …

International Tax Competition: An Efficient Or Inefficient Phenomenon?, Mitchell B. Weiss

Akron Tax Journal

This Article examines the legal and economic implications of this globalization phenomenon. Part I discusses the allocative effect an income tax system has on a particular country's resources. This first part, while focusing only on domestic tax policy, is intended to throw some light on the international issues that are the central focus of this article. So with this background in mind, Part II turns to the international scene, analyzing the efficiency effect international integration is having on the world's income tax systems in general and the U.S.'s income tax system in particular. Finally, Part III considers what the Organisation …

The Proposed E.U. Vat On Electronically Transmitted Services: Enforcement And Compliance Issues, Thomas Fawkes

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

This paper will begin by discussing the current VAT system in the E.U. It will also describe in detail the provisions of the proposed VAT amendments as they affect electronic commerce transactions with respect to both B2B and B2C transactions. Next, the practical effects of the VAT amendments in terms of increased VAT revenue for the E.U. and its mem-ber states will be discussed. Following will be a discussion on the past and present failures of the E.U. and its Member States in encouraging and en-forcing compliance under the current VAT Directive, and the implication of such failures on the …

U.K. Charity Law: Is It Creating A True Democracy Of Giving?, James R. Michels

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

In November 1999, the British government announced important legislative reforms affecting the various methods of providing charitable contributions. The government expressed its desire to create a "democracy of giving" by expanding tax relief for charitable donations. These changes took effect in April 2000.

This note argues that the recent legislation reforms, while a step in the right direction, do not create a true "democracy of giving." In arriving at this conclusion, the note will outline the evolution of British tax law related to individual charitable donations. The note will also explore the problems experienced by the charitable sector that prompted …

The Uneasy Marriage Of Export Incentives And The Income Tax, Mihir A. Desai, James R. Hines Jr.

Articles

This paper investigates the economic effect of tax incentives for American exports. These incentives include a partial tax exemption for export profits (available by routing exports through foreign sales corporations) and the allocation of some export profits to foreign-source income for purposes of U.S. taxation. The analysis highlights three important aspects of these policies. First, official figures appear to understate dramatically the tax expenditures associated with some U.S. export incentives. Correctly measured, total export benefits provided through the income tax are equivalent to a 1-percent ad valorem subsidy. Second, the 1984 imposition of more rigorous requirements for obtaining export subsidies …

Easements On Tribal Sovereignty, Todd Miller

American Indian Law Review

No abstract provided.

Globalization And Tax Competition: Implications For Developing Countries, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah

Articles

This article analyses the effects of tax competition on developing countries. Since the 1980s, globalization and greater capital mobility have led many developing countries to adopt the policy of competing with one another to attract capital investment. One of the main forms taken by this competition has been the granting of tax holidays and other tax reductions to investing multinationals. This paper reviews the normative arguments for and against this type of tax competition, from a global perspective. It then examines these arguments in depth from the point of view of developing countries. The conclusion in general is that, since …

Globalization And Tax Competition: Implications For Developing Countries, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah

Articles

The current age of globalization can be distinguished from the previous one (from 1870 to 1914) by the much higher mobility of capital than labor (in the previous age, before immigration restrictions, labor was at least as mobile as capital). This increased mobility has been the result of technological changes (the ability to move funds electronically), and the relaxation of exchange controls. The mobility of capital has led to tax competition, in which sovereign countries lower their tax rates on income earned by foreigners within their borders in order to attract both portfolio and direct investment. Tax competition, in turn, …

Taxing International Income: Inadequate Principles, Outdated Concepts, And Unsatisfactory Policies, Michael J. Graetz

Faculty Scholarship

It is a pleasure to be here today to deliver the first David R. Tillinghast Lecture of the 21st century, a lecture honoring a man who has done much to shape' and stimulate our thinking about the international tax world of the 20th.

Our nation's system for taxing international income today is largely a creature of the period 1918-1928; a time when the income tax was itself in childhood. From the inception of the income tax (1913 for individuals, 1909 for corporations) until 1918, foreign taxes were deducted like any other business expense. In 1918, the foreign tax credit (FTC) …

Treating Tax Issues Through Trade Regimes (Symposium: International Tax Policy In The New Millennium), Reuven S. Avi-Yonah

Articles

Professor Paul R. McDaniel has performed an extremely valuable service in clarifying the relationship between trade and tax law. In particular, he has done so by pointing out that, to a large extent, the two spheres do not overlap, much less clash in their objectives. This makes sense because, fundamentally, the goal of trade law is to facilitate trade, while the goal of tax law is to raise revenue. Thus, for example, an ideal tariff under trade law is set at zero, but an ideal tax under tax law is set at some positive rate. It therefore should not be …

Tax, Trade And Harmful Tax Competition: Reflections On The Fsc Controversy, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah

Articles

This article contrasts three approaches to dealing with the BEPS problem: adopting a unitary taxation regime, ending deferral, and adopting anti-base-erosion measures. It concludes that while the first approach is the best long-term option, the other two are more promising as immediate candidates for adoption in the context of U.S. tax reform and the OECD BEPS project.

A Framework On Consumption Taxes And Their Impact On International Trade, Jane L. Seigendall

Penn State International Law Review (1982 - 2011)

No abstract provided.

The Cash Balance Controversy, Edward A. Zelinsky

Articles

No abstract provided.

On The Frontier Of Procedural Innovation: Advance Pricing Agreements And The Struggle To Allocate Income For Cross Border Taxation, Diane M. Ring

Michigan Journal of International Law

This paper outlines a recent procedural innovation in the tax area, the Advance Pricing Agreement Program ("APA" program), and evaluates its success. Such a case study can play a significant role in linking procedural innovation to the broader issues of administrative law theory and regulatory reform. For example, a working model such as the APA program, built on flexibility and creativity, may support administrative theories advocating discretion, flexibility, and experimentation. Conversely, some interest group theories of regulation (e.g., public choice theory), can prompt critical examination of reforms like APAs that exhibit limited openness to scrutiny. The APA program is an …

Commentary (Response To Article By H. David Rosenbloom), Reuven S. Avi-Yonah

Articles

David Rosenbloom has delivered an important lecture on an important topic:' whether exploiting differences between the tax system of two different jurisdictions to minimize the taxes paid to either or both ("international tax arbitrage") is a problem, and if so, whether anything can be done about it in a world without a "world tax organization." As Rosenbloom states, international tax arbitrage is "the planning focus of the future,"2 and recently has been the focus of considerable discussion and debate (for example, upon the promulgation and subsequent withdrawal under fire of Notice 98-11).3 Rosenbloom's lecture is one of the first attempts …

Globalization, Tax Competition, And The Fiscal Crisis Of The Welfare State, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah

Articles

This Article examines the increased use of tax incentives as weapons in the international competition to attract investment. Professor Avi-Yonah argues that the establishment of tax havens allows large amounts of capital to go untaxed, depriving both developed and developing countries of revenue and forcing them to rely on forms of taxation less progressive than the income tax. He points to social insurance programs, many of which are already on uncertain courses as aging populations imperil their fiscal health, as likely to bear the brunt of the revenue loss that tax havens cause. Professor Avi-Yonah contends that both economic efficiency …

Assets In Wonderland: The Irs's Inconsistent Policy On Software Costs, Vsevolod L. Maksin

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Trust Offshore, Antony G.D. Duckworth

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

I was not present at the birth of the offshore financial centers or of their trust business, but I am told that the mother was taxation. Perhaps that is an oversimplification, but I do not doubt that taxation was the major influence. The typical settlor was a taxpayer from one of the major common law countries, and his primary motive for going offshore was tax avoidance. But there were also a few settlors from other places, some motivated by estate planning considerations (the trust allowing them to make property arrangements which could not be made at home), some by fear …

The Role Of Offshore Jurisdictions In The Development Of The International Trust, David Brownbill

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The trust is a common law invention, the product of experience over many years. But the more it is reduced to legislation, the more formalistic it becomes, and the less able it will be to respond to new situations and challenges. The quasi-code approach--and, to a much lesser extent, the targeted approach--also results in a fragmenting of the trust law. The trust has benefited immensely from the relative uniformity of most general principles throughout the Commonwealth and other common law countries. This has enabled developments, in the form of judicial pronouncements, in one country to be freely adopted in others. …

Bonus Questions--Executive Compensation In The Era Of Pay For Performance, Charles M. Yablon

Articles

The article critically examines the evolution of executive compensation, particularly the shift from traditional pay structures to performance-based systems, and argues that this shift has not resolved the underlying issues of excessive pay and misaligned incentives. Instead, it has introduced new conflicts of interest and inefficiencies. The author proposes a regulatory solution—a deductibility cap on executive pay—to curb excessive compensation and better align executive incentives with shareholder interests.

New Transfer Pricing Rules In Brazil, Alexandre Tadeu Seguim

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

Through transfer price, the organization aims to evaluate and improve the performance of the related entity. The idea that transfer pricing is a mechanism designed only to avoid taxes is misleading. Actually, to transfer price is a sound and positive way to increase value. The 1979 OECD Report on Transfer Pricing and Multinational Enterprises emphasized that the term is neutral: "the consideration of transfer pricing problems should not be confused with the consideration of problems of tax fraud or tax avoidance, even though transfer pricing policies may be used for such purposes." The 1995 OECD Report went even further by …

International Tax Planning After Check-The-Box, Monica Gianni

UF Law Faculty Publications

Monica Gianni examines the international tax planning and structuring opportunities generated by the check-the-box regulations and evaluates the federal revenue authorities’ attempts to curb the resultant “abuses.”

Respect For "Form" As "Substance" In U.S. Taxation Of International Trusts, Donald D. Kozusko, Stephen K. Vetter

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

...we might decide that the attribution rule should not be applied so broadly, or so automatically. But how would such a system be devised by regulation? The attribution rule could be applied to trusts in which the discretion of the trustee is very limited and the beneficial interests so clearly ascertainable that the trust is, for all practicable purposes, transparent. That is, however, only a small universe of cases. This leads to the further conclusion that the attribution rule has to be applied based on a facts and circumstances determination of the beneficial interest in each case. Yet that seems …

The Rise Of The International Trust, Jeffrey A. Schoenblum

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

With considerable acuity, Carlyn S. McCaffrey and Elyse G.Kirschner explore the maze created by the new Code and treasury regulation provisions. In addition to affording a fascinating roadmap through the maze, their article, Learning to Live with the New Foreign Nongrantor Trust Rules, demonstrates the difficulty of addressing legislatively the multitude of trust arrangements that can be devised in the struggle between grantors worldwide and the U.S. tax authorities. The article also exposes the inevitable generation of unintended consequences, including new loopholes, that are a product of such legislation.

In a second tax article, Respect for "Form" as "Substance" in …

Transfer Pricing, Anders Leif Allvin

LLM Theses and Essays

Transfer pricing is one of the principal international taxation issues of the 1990s and potentially of future decades as well. For corporate enterprises, it can be difficult enough to do business in just one country, but it gets even more complex when they go international. The growth of multinational enterprises (MNEs) creates complex taxation issues for both the tax administrations as well for the MNE. Transfer pricing concerns allocation of income earned within affiliated corporate groups in different countries, which must satisfy tax authorities that they are not evading taxes through the use of transfer pricing. The main problem with …

Learning To Live With The New Foreign Nongrantor Trust Rules, Carlyn S. Mccaffrey

William & Mary Annual Tax Conference

No abstract provided.

The Inexorable March Toward A Continuous Disclosure Requirement For Publicly Traded Corporations: "Are We There Yet?", Dale Arthur Oesterle

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Should Advance Pricing Agreements Be Published?, Kristin E. Hickman

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

The purpose of this comment is to review the role and function of the advance pricing agreement process, to examine the merits of both sides' arguments in the BNA suit, and to discuss the policy implications should BNA prevail. While advance pricing agreements are not the ultimate solution to transfer pricing disputes and tax jurisdiction issues, they are a dispute resolution tool worth maintaining, at least until Congress or Treasury provides greater guidance in this area. Sufficient legal basis exists for the courts to find against BNA and rule that advance pricing agreements are exempt from publication under IRC § …