Does the WTO Increase Trade and Cause Convergence?

We study whether proximity to the nearest tax haven affects FDI and the number of American affiliates in a tax haven. Our results show that distance to the nearest tax haven is positively related to FDI inflows and the number of American affiliates in tax havens. These findings suggest that there is harmful competition between tax havens. We also find evidence of positive spillovers: the number of American affiliates in a tax haven is positively related to the number of affiliates in its closest neighboring tax haven. This suggests the presence of agglomeration benefits given there is an affiliate in a nearby tax haven.     

Fighting multiple tax havens

This paper develops a competition theory framework that evaluates an important aspect of the OECD's Harmful Tax Practices Initiative against tax havens. We show that the sequential nature of the process is harmful and more costly than a “big bang” multilateral agreement. The sequentiality may even prevent the process from being completed successfully. Closing down a subset of tax havens reduces competition among the havens that remain active. This makes their “tax haven business” more profitable and shifts a larger share of rents to these remaining tax havens, making them more reluctant to give up their “tax haven business”. Moreover, the outcome of this process, reducing the number of tax havens, but not eliminating them altogether, may reduce welfare in the OECD.     

Ethics in Tax Practice: A Study of the Effect of Practitioner Firm Size

While much of the empirical accounting literature suggests that, if differences do exist, Big Four employees are more ethical than non-Big Four employees, this trend has not been evident in the recent media coverage of Big Four tax practitioners acting for multinationals accused of aggressive tax avoidance behaviour. However, there has been little exploration in the literature to date specifically of the relationship between firm size and ethics in tax practice. We aim here to address this gap, initially exploring tax practitioners’ perceptions of the impact of firm size on ethics in tax practice using interview data in order to identify the salient issues involved. We then proceed to assess quantitatively whether employer firm size has an impact on the ethical reasoning of tax practitioners, using a tax context-specific adaptation of a well-known and validated psychometric instrument, the Defining Issues Test.     

Steuerflucht und Steueroasen

The current debate on tax planning has to distinguish between tax evasion and aggressive tax planning. While tax evasion is illegal and requires the enhanced exchange of information, measures against aggressive tax planning seem to be very complex and complicated. Tax havens’ benefits from tax haven activities are inversely related to the intensity of competition among tax havens. Once the set of tax havens narrows, each havens’ share of the business increases and its margins go up. This competition aspect makes initial successes easy but final success very difficult. Nevertheless, some authors argue that action against tax flight is inevitable. As tax flight is a multilateral phenomenon, coordinated initiatives by country groups appear particularly promising. Here the EU should be in the vanguard. Only automatic information exchange generates the transparency and leeway needed to eliminate income tax evasion and to permit countries to devise tax codes at their own discretion. Despite the European trend towards lower corporate taxes, an empirical analysis shows that German multinationals have increased their tax haven activities. Recent research suggests that this development might be explained by the increased usage of anti-tax avoidance measures by high-tax countries. The substitutive nature of different tax-avoidance schemes indicates that only a coordinated closing of loopholes for profit shifting would reduce the demand for tax-haven operations significantly.     

Corporate governance and returns to emerging economy firm acquisitions in tax havens: An empirical test on Indian firms

Cross‐border acquisitions (CBAs) by emerging economy firms are known to yield positive stockholder returns. A nontrivial fraction of CBAs by emerging economy firms are in tax havens. We argue because of weak corporate governance in emerging economies and the secrecy afforded by tax havens, emerging economy firm CBAs in tax havens yield lower stockholder returns than their CBAs in nontax havens. We also argue the negative effect of tax haven destinations is greater for firms with greater business group ownership and for firms with greater foreign insider ownership. Furthermore, we argue the negative effect of tax haven destinations is mitigated for firms whose stock is actively traded in the market. Empirical tests in a sample of nearly 800 CBAs by Indian firms from 2002 to 2011 support our hypotheses. Our study contributes to a better understanding of stockholder returns to CBAs by emerging economy firms and the influence of corporate governance on these returns.     

The determinants of tax haven FDI

This paper examines the determinants of a multinational enterprise's (MNEs) decision to set up tax haven subsidiaries. We adapt the firm-specific advantage–country-specific advantage (FSA–CSA) framework and construct a number of empirically testable hypotheses. The analysis is based on a database covering 14,209 MNEs in twelve OECD countries. We find that the variety of capitalism of a MNEs home location and the level of technological intensity has a strong impact on this decision. We also find that the home country corporate tax rate has a minimal impact. This suggests that corporate tax liberalisation is unlikely to deter MNEs from undertaking this activity.     

房地产税收政策的传导机制分析

近年来,我国出台了一系列房地产市场的税收政策,但调控效果不佳,本文从税收政策传导机制的角度分析我国房地产市场税收政策传导机制及其存在的不足,提出了加强税收管理,清理租、税、费体系混乱局面等建议,以畅通房地产税收政策传导机制,使政府税收政策能真正对房地产市场起到调节作用,从而促进我国房地产市场健康发展。     

对国内“世界最早广告法”论述中几个问题的考察与勘误

关于世界上最早颁布的成文广告法到底是哪一部,及1712年英国"知识税"法对当时报纸广告征税的税额到底是多少,国内学者的意见至今不一,本文通过实证与互证,认为英国1889年颁布的《不当广告法》应是世界广告立法史上最早的完整意义上的广告法,而1712年英国"知识税"法的税额是半张或不足半张报纸的广告交半便士(one halfpenny)税,半张以上但又不超过一张报纸的交一便士(one penny)税,超过一张而不足六张八开纸大小的交二先令税。     

How do emerging debt market participants recognize firm internationalization?Evidence from effects on credit ratings

We explore the firm internationalization's impact on firm credit ratings in emerging economies. Adopting Chinese data from 2009 to 2018, we document that firm internationalization varies negatively with its credit ratings, indicating that emerging debt market participants are risk averse and prioritize the risks involved in firm internationalization endeavors. This association is amplified for firms operating in host countries with lower institutional quality, decreased cultural distance from home countries, and when firms do not hold tax haven subsidiaries. We observe that the main association is consistent when alternative dataset (India, Russia, and Brazil) or proxy (cost of debt) is applied.     

A revisit to the hedge and safe haven properties of gold: New evidence from China

We examine the role of gold as a hedge and safe haven from the perspective of Chinese investors. Using the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE)-Gold futures prices and the CSI 300 index from 2008 to 2017, we find that gold is not a hedge against the Chinese stock market on average. However, gold acts as a safe haven when market returns are below their 1%, 5%, and 10% quantiles and during the two crash periods. Our findings apply to most of the industry sectors as well. We also show that the role of gold can change drastically due to some market policy reforms.     

Succeeding in the Big Middle through technology

Big Middle retailers serve the mass market composed of mainstream consumers and face competition from both other Big Middle retailers and specialized (niche) retailers that want a share of the Big Middle consumer market. How can Big Middle retailers leverage technology to strengthen their competitive position? The authors explore this question by offering a framework for characterizing the Big Middle and a consumer-based taxonomy for classifying technology strategies in the retailing arena. In particular, the authors emphasize the following key points: (1) most technological advancements in retailing in the twenty-first century will relate to information technology; (2) many technologies have the potential to both cut the cost of retailer operations and enhance service to customers; (3) the adoption of these technologies requires significant upfront investments; (4) successful retailers in the Big Middle are in the best position to adopt these technologies because of their deep pockets and because they can pass on part of the costs to their vendors; (5) Big Middle retailers must take a longer term view with respect to returns on their technology investments; and (6) Big Middle retailers should consider consumers’ reactions to these technologies and be cautious about “overengineering.” In this regard, this editorial points to several directions for further research in the realm of technology investments by retailers.     

Tax competition,imperfect capital mobility and the gain from non-preferential agreements

The gain to competing governments from entering into binding non-preferential tax agreements (that prevents discriminatory taxation in favor of mobile capital) depends on the extent of capital mobility between jurisdictions. In particular the gain is increasing in the cost of relocation of capital and the fraction of the domestic tax base which is relatively immobile. We show this in a symmetric model of tax competition between two governments where all capital is imperfectly mobile and differ only in their cost of relocation.     

Understanding the interaction of motivation and opportunity for tax planning inside US multinationals: A qualitative study

We explore the internal workings of tax planning within US multinational enterprises (MNEs) using a qualitative research method. We conduct a series of interviews with senior tax executives, which we supplement with other public information. We find that US MNEs adopt a heterogenous range of approaches driven by the motivations as well as the opportunities to reduce their tax bill legally. We develop a new theoretical framework that analyses the interactions of motivations and opportunities in MNEs’ tax planning strategy. We generate four typologies of corporate tax payers. Our study provides new insights detailing why and how companies plan their tax.     

Do Swedish multinationals pay less in taxes than domestic firms?

In recent years, there has been growing concern that multinational enterprises (MNE s) engage in strategic tax planning in order to shift profits to low‐tax jurisdictions. This common perception is generally confirmed by empirical evidence, which is foremost provided for countries with high corporate taxes and relatively complex tax systems. We investigate whether multinational firms in a country with a comparatively more competitive tax system undertake profit shifting. We do this using detailed census data from corporate income statements and balance sheets filed by Swedish manufacturing firms between 1997 and 2007. We detect profit shifting by comparing MNE s with (purely) domestic firms. In particular, we identify systematic differences in tax payments, earnings (before interest and taxes) and equity ratios between multinational and comparable domestic firms based on propensity score matching. In addition, we examine the tax behavioural impact of acquiring multinational status using difference‐in‐differences estimations and/or propensity score matching. Our results reveal that the extent to which multinational firms have lower tax payments than their domestic counterparts depends on their production characteristics and foreign market outreach. In particular, we find evidence indicating that firms operating in few foreign markets and firms that become multinational engage in profit shifting from Sweden.     

Estimating the revenue costs of tax treaties in developing countries

(12764) Petr Janský Marek Šedivý Tax treaties between countries influence how much tax revenues governments receive from multinational enterprises. These treaties often reduce the withholding tax rates on outgoing dividend and interest payments. We provide illustrative estimates of costs for these two taxes for 14 developing countries in sub‐Saharan Africa and Asia in a first multi‐country comparison of this kind. These might be overestimates because we assume that foreign direct investments are not influenced by the tax treaties. We estimate that the highest potential tax revenue losses are within hundreds of millions US$ and around 0.1% of GDP, with Philippines incurring the highest losses both in US$ and relative to GDP. We also find that around 95% of the losses is due to dividends and that only four investor countries—Japan, Netherlands, Switzerland and Singapore—are together responsible for more than half of the losses. We discuss the limitations of these estimates and how future research could improve their quality as well as coverage.     

Managerial legal liability and Big 4 auditor choice

This study investigates the effect of directors' and officers' (hereafter D&O) liability insurance coverage on auditor choice. Based on a sample of 671 Taiwanese listed firms with D&O legal liability insurance data, our evidence shows that companies with excess D&O liability insurance coverage are less likely to appoint Big 4 auditors. Furthermore, we find that Big 4 auditors are more likely to issue unclean opinions and to constrain the abnormal accruals and ‘beating or meeting’ earnings benchmarks for their clients with excess D&O liability insurance coverage. The findings document that a higher level of D&O liability insurance coverage increases Big 4 auditors' concerns about the credibility of financial statements. Given this, Big 4 auditors have incentive to require more conservative accounting choices for these clients in order to minimize possible litigation risk and reputation damage.     

Interfirm Rivalry between Small Hardware Stores and “Big Box” Retailers: Market Commonality and Product Mix Similarity as Antecedents to Competitive Response

We examined market commonality and product mix similarity as predictors of competitive response by small retail hardware stores to their nearest “Big Box” competitor. Data from 314 small retail hardware stores revealed a consistent relationship between greater market commonality and small firm responsiveness. However, no consistent relationship was observed between resource similarity and responsiveness. Tests for interactions between these two predictors were inconsistent—two (of five) specific product categories (i.e., hardware and tools, seasonal goods) were significant but in divergent patterns. We discuss what these findings suggest concerning the competitive interaction between small retailers and their Big Box rivals.     

House prices and immovable property tax: Evidence from OECD countries

This paper studies the impact of changes in immovable property tax revenues on the growth rate of house prices by analysing a panel of 34 OECD countries over the period 1970–2014. Starting from the annual series of immovable property tax revenues, we isolate years of significant shifts in the property tax regime and study their impact on house prices. We find a strong negative relationship between increases in immovable property tax revenues and house prices. This relationship is robust to the inclusion of cyclical determinants of house prices, country and year fixed effects, and country‐specific linear trends. We also propose an instrumental variable strategy based on countries’ legal origins that confirms a statistically significant negative impact of such taxes in the short run.     

国际“四大”会计师事务所合伙制文化探索

合伙制会计师事务所的价值需通过合伙人个体共同创造和维持,合伙人应当如何选择也是目前一个难题。从国际“四大”合伙人变迁探讨国际会计师事务所合伙人文化的不同对其发展的影响,对我国会计师事务所的发展将有所启示。