La concurrence fiscale sur le bénéfice des entreprises : théories et pratiques

This paper begins by reviewing the principal results relating to optimal taxation of corporate income and distortions arising from corporate income tax in an open economy. Emphasis is placed on the most recent theoretical analyses derived from the new geographical economics and theories of international trade. Then the authors review different methods of measuring tax differences in the European Union countries. Their divergent results may appear puzzling but can be traced to differences in the object assigned to the indicators. Lastly, the authors examine empirical attempts to quantify the effect of tax differences on corporate behaviour. Tax differences can affect firm location decisions and direct investment flows; they can also lead to tax optimisation behaviour that is difficult to identify empirically.