IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/btx/wpaper/1425.html

Are we heading towards a corporate tax system fit for the 21st century?

Author

Listed:
  • Michael P Devereux

    (University of Oxford)

  • John Vella

    (University of Oxford)

Abstract

The most significant problems with the existing system for taxing the profit of multinational companies stem from two related sources. First, the underlying “1920s compromise” for allocating the rights to tax profit between countries is both inappropriate and increasingly hard to implement in a modern economic setting. Second, because the system is based on taxing mobile activities, it invites countries to compete with each other to attract economic activity and to favour “domestic” companies. The OECD Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) initiative essentially seeks to close loopholes rather than to re-examine these fundamental problems. As a consequence, it is unlikely to generate a stable long-run tax system. We briefly outline some more fundamental alternative reforms.

Suggested Citation

  • Michael P Devereux & John Vella, 2014. "Are we heading towards a corporate tax system fit for the 21st century?," Working Papers 1425, Oxford University Centre for Business Taxation.
    • Handle: RePEc:btx:wpaper:1425
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sbs.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/Business_Taxation/Docs/Publications/Working_Papers/series-14/WP1425.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Keuschnigg, Christian & Devereux, Michael P., 2013. "The arm's length principle and distortions to multinational firm organization," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(2), pages 432-440.
    2. Rosanne Altshuler & Harry Grubert, 2005. "The Three Parties in the Race to the Bottom: Host Governments, Home Governments and Multinational Companies," CESifo Working Paper Series 1613, CESifo.
    3. Devereux, Michael P. & Lockwood, Ben & Redoano, Michela, 2008. "Do countries compete over corporate tax rates?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(5-6), pages 1210-1235, June.
    4. Reuven Avi-Yonah, "undated". "International Tax as International Law," University of Michigan John M. Olin Center for Law & Economics Working Paper Series umichlwps-1006, University of Michigan John M. Olin Center for Law & Economics.
    5. Fritz Foley, C. & Hartzell, Jay C. & Titman, Sheridan & Twite, Garry, 2007. "Why do firms hold so much cash? A tax-based explanation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(3), pages 579-607, December.
    6. Avi-Yonah,Reuven S., 2007. "International Tax as International Law," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521852838, Enero-Abr.
    7. Avi-Yonah,Reuven S., 2007. "International Tax as International Law," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521618014, Enero-Abr.
    8. Michael P. Devereux & Rachel Griffith & Alexander Klemm, 2002. "Corporate income tax reforms and international tax competition [‘Do domestic firms benefit from direct foreign investment? Evidence from Venezuela’]," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 17(35), pages 449-495.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Miranda Stewart, 2014. "International Tax, the G20 and the Asia Pacific: From Competition to Cooperation?," Asia and the Pacific Policy Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 1(3), pages 484-496, September.
    2. Wunder, Haroldene F., 2009. "Tax risk management and the multinational enterprise," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 14-28.
    3. Richard M. Bird, 2014. "Global Taxes and International Taxation: Mirage and Reality," International Center for Public Policy Working Paper Series, at AYSPS, GSU paper1429, International Center for Public Policy, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University.
    4. Krishanu Karmakar & Jorge Martinez-Vazquez, 2014. "Fiscal Competition versus Fiscal Harmonization: A Review of the Arguments," International Center for Public Policy Working Paper Series, at AYSPS, GSU paper1431, International Center for Public Policy, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University.
    5. Richard M. Bird, 2016. "Reforming International Taxation: Is the Process the Real Product?," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 217(2), pages 159-180, June.
    6. Philipp Genschel & Achim Kemmerling & Eric Seils, 2011. "Accelerating Downhill: How the EU Shapes Corporate Tax Competition in the Single Market," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(3), pages 585-606, May.
    7. Hearson, Martin, 2018. "Transnational expertise and the expansion of the international tax regime: imposing ‘acceptable’ standards," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 88351, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    8. Joana Andrade Vicente, 2021. "Tax us, if you can: a game theoretic approach to profit shifting within the European Union," Working Papers REM 2021/0206, ISEG - Lisbon School of Economics and Management, REM, Universidade de Lisboa.
    9. Vega, Alberto, 2012. "International governance through soft law: The case of the OECD transfer pricing guidelines," TranState Working Papers 163, University of Bremen, Collaborative Research Center 597: Transformations of the State.
    10. Charles McLure Jr., 2008. "Harmonizing Corporate Income Taxes in the US and the EU: Legislative, Judicial, Soft Law and Cooperative Approaches," CESifo Forum, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 9(02), pages 46-52, July.
    11. Omar Sebastián Cabrera Cabrera, 2016. "El Establecimiento Permanente: Especial Énfasis En La Cláusula De Agencia," Books, Universidad Externado de Colombia, Facultad de Derecho, number 849.
    12. Alan J. Auerbach, 2006. "The Future of Capital Income Taxation," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 27(4), pages 399-420, December.
    13. Karen Crabbé, 2013. "Are Your Firm´s Taxes Set in Warsaw? Spatial Tax Competition in Europe," FinanzArchiv: Public Finance Analysis, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 69(3), pages 317-337, September.
    14. Langenmayr, Dominika & Haufler, Andreas & Bauer, Christian J., 2015. "Should tax policy favor high- or low-productivity firms?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 18-34.
    15. Ralf Ewert & Rainer Niemann, 2012. "Limited Liability, Asymmetric Taxation, and Risk Taking - Why Partial Tax Neutralities Can Be Harmful," FinanzArchiv: Public Finance Analysis, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 68(1), pages 83-120, March.
    16. repec:ecr:col037:5367 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Karl Zimmermann, 2019. "Public Infrastructure Provision in the Presence of Terms-of-Trade Effects and Tax Competition," EconStor Preprints 193458, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    18. Norman Gemmell & Richard Kneller & Ismael Sanz, 2014. "The growth effects of tax rates in the OECD," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 47(4), pages 1217-1255, November.
    19. Koethenbuerger, Marko & Stimmelmayr, Michael, 2016. "Taxing multinationals in the presence of internal capital markets," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 58-71.
    20. Boly Amadou & Seydou Coulibaly & Eric Kéré Nazindigouba, 2019. "Working Paper 310 - Tax Policy, Foreign Direct Investment and Spillover Effects," Working Paper Series 2436, African Development Bank.
    21. Florian Haelg & Niklas Potrafke & Jan-Egbert Sturm, 2022. "The determinants of social expenditures in OECD countries," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 193(3), pages 233-261, December.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • F23 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Multinational Firms; International Business
    • H25 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Business Taxes and Subsidies
    • H32 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents - - - Firm

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:btx:wpaper:1425. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Dongxian Guo The email address of this maintainer does not seem to be valid anymore. Please ask Dongxian Guo to update the entry or send us the correct address (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/sbsoxuk.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.