Tax Convergence in BRICS: History and Perspectives

Over the past decade, the BRICS states have been increasing political and economic ties for the purpose of joint development and integration. However, these efforts may not be entirely effective without tax harmonization. The goal of this research is to compare BRICS countries’ tax systems and try to establish the level of tax convergence. The comparative analysis used in the study is based on the theory of economic convergence and the study of tax statistics indicators that record the dynamics of the characteristics of the analyzed tax systems. Qualitative analysis was used to study the features of the tax systems of the BRICS countries in historical context. Quantitative analysis was based on tax indicators and indices. Qualitative analysis demonstrates historically predetermined and significant differences between taxation in BRICS countries. Due to these differences, traditional analysis of tax convergence based on tax-to-GDP ratio is unpromising, so we concentrated heavily on corporate income tax convergence in BRICS. Study results demonstrate that there are some signs of tax convergence in corporate income taxation in BRICS started in 2016 but did not last long. Meanwhile differentiation according to this parameter is not strong. Study results show strong polarization inside BRICS: countries with capitalist and colonial background have almost the same profit taxation that is much heavily than profit taxation in countries with socialist background. A comparison of the coefficients of variation for the Paying Taxes index shows that in associations with large geographical distance (BRICS) tax systems demonstrate smaller similarity than in in regional associations. Our study recommends further tax cooperation to maintain the competitive advantages of BRICS members.