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Taxation of outbound direct investment: economic principles and tax policy considerations

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  • Michael P. Devereux

Abstract

This paper reviews economic principles for optimality of the taxation of international profit, from both a global and national perspective. It argues that for traditional systems based on the residence of the investor or the source of the income, nothing less than full harmonization across countries can achieve global optimality. The conditions for national optimality are more difficult to identify, but are most likely to imply source-based taxation. However, source-based taxation requires an allocation of the profits of multinational companies to individual jurisdictions; this is not only very difficult in practice, but in some cases is without any conceptual foundation. The taxation of interest income on a residence basis is also hard to justify if the aim of the tax system is to tax only the income arising from economic activity in a given country. Copyright 2008, Oxford University Press.

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  • Michael P. Devereux, 2008. "Taxation of outbound direct investment: economic principles and tax policy considerations," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press, vol. 24(4), pages 698-719, winter.
  • Handle: RePEc:oup:oxford:v:24:y:2008:i:4:p:698-719
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    Cited by:

    1. Johannes Becker & Clemens Fuest, 2011. "The taxation of foreign profits — The old view, the new view and a pragmatic view," Intereconomics: Review of European Economic Policy, Springer;ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics;Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), vol. 46(2), pages 92-97, March.
    2. Norbäck, Pehr-Johan & Persson, Lars & Tåg, Joacim, 2018. "Does the debt tax shield distort ownership efficiency?," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 299-310.
    3. Johannes Becker, 2013. "Taxation of Foreign Profits with Heterogeneous Multinational Firms," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(1), pages 76-92, January.
    4. Mr. Manmohan S. Kumar & Mr. Dennis P. Quinn, 2012. "Globalization and Corporate Taxation," IMF Working Papers 2012/252, International Monetary Fund.
    5. Sebastien Bradley & Estelle Dauchy & Makoto Hasegawa, 2018. "Investor valuations of Japan’s adoption of a territorial tax regime: quantifying the direct and competitive effects of international tax reform," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 25(3), pages 581-630, June.
    6. Johannes Becker, 2014. "Strategic Trade Policy through the Tax System," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(9), pages 1237-1246, September.
    7. Sjögren, Anna, 2010. "Graded Children – Evidence of Longrun Consequences of School Grades from a Nationwide Reform," Working Paper Series 839, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    8. Peter Egger & Valeria Merlo & Martin Ruf & Georg Wamser, 2015. "Consequences of the New UK Tax Exemption System: Evidence from Micro‐level Data," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 125(589), pages 1764-1789, December.
    9. Kari Seppo, 2015. "Corporate tax in an international environment – Problems and possible remedies," Nordic Tax Journal, Sciendo, vol. 2015(1), pages 1-16, September.
    10. Mishra, Anil V. & Ratti, Ronald A., 2013. "Home bias and cross border taxation," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 169-193.
    11. Nicodème, Gaëtan, 2009. "On Recent Developments in Fighting Harmful Tax Practices," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 62(4), pages 755-771, December.
    12. Elschner, Christina & Heckemeyer, Jost Henrich & Spengel, Christoph, 2009. "Besteuerungsprinzipien und effektive Unternehmenssteuerbelastungen in der Europäischen Union," ZEW Discussion Papers 09-034, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    13. Christina Elschner & Jost H. Heckemeyer & Christoph Spengel, 2011. "Besteuerungsprinzipien und effektive Unternehmenssteuerbelastungen in der Europäischen Union: Regelt sich die EU‐weite Steuerharmonisierung von selbst?," Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 12(1), pages 47-71, February.
    14. Mishra, Anil V. & Ratti, Ronald A., 2014. "Taxation of domestic dividend income and foreign investment holdings," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 218-231.
    15. Mindy Herzfeld, 2021. "Designing international tax reform: lessons from TCJA," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 28(5), pages 1163-1187, October.
    16. Kayis-Kumar, Ann, 2015. "Thin capitalisation rules: A second-best solution to the cross-border debt bias?," MPRA Paper 72031, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Giorgio Barba Navaretti & Anthony J. Venables, 2013. "Multinationals and industrial policy," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press, vol. 29(2), pages 361-382, SUMMER.
    18. David Weisbach, 2014. "The use of neutralities in international tax policy," Working Papers 1414, Oxford University Centre for Business Taxation.

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