Fundamental Tax Reform in The Netherlands

The Netherlands has abolished the tax on actual personal capital income and has replaced it by a presumptive capital income tax, which is in fact a net wealth tax. This paper contrasts this wealth tax with a conventional realization-based capital gains tax, a retrospective capital gains tax with interest on the deferred tax, and a mark-to-market tax which taxes capital gains as they accrue. We conclude that the effective and neutral taxation of capital income can best be ensured through a combination of (a) a mark-to-market tax to capture the returns on easy-to-value financial products, and (b) a capital gains tax with interest to tax the returns on hard-to-value real estate and small businesses.     

国际反避税立法发展与困境的思考

随着国际避税现象的日益严重,各国政府认识到单纯依靠各国单方面的国内法措施,难以应对越来越复杂和精巧的各种国际避税安排。在现行国际税收规则难以被根本改变的情况下,只有加强国际合作,才能有效管制国际避税行为。各国在采取双边或多边合作,通过签订有关条约和协定进行反避税的过程中,既面临着困境,同时也为国际反避税立法及其未来发展提供了契机。     

Exemption vs. Credit Method in International Double Taxation Treaties

This paper examines the choice of international double taxation relief methods by two small countries that mutually exchange foreign direct investment. At the first stage, each country chooses between the exemption and the credit method (as prescribed by the OECD model treaty) and at the second stage, each country sets nationally optimal non-discriminatory capital tax rates. It is shown that in the subgame perfect equilibrium both countries choose the exemption method. Mutual application of the exemption method is also shown to yield the highest welfare for each country. While the tax export effect generally induces both countries to choose inefficiently high tax rates, this effect is weakest when both countries exempt foreign earned profits from domestic taxation.     

International interest withholding taxation: Prospects for a common European policy

In 1989 the European Union member states rejected a proposal to introduce a minimum interest withholding tax of 15 percent. Some Union member states, however, remain keenly interested in bringing about some minimum level of international taxation of interest income. This suggests that member states will be asked to reconsider the issue in the near future. This paper first examines the effects of interest withholding taxes on financial markets. It then reviews some of the main aspects of potential tax reform in this area. A major challenge for any future proposal will be to satisfactorily integrate the banking system into a common interest withholding scheme.     

Capital Mobility and Source-Based Taxation of Capital Income in Small Open Economies

This paper examines the taxation of capital income in a small open economy that faces a highly elastic supply of internationally mobile capital and increasing tax competition. The analysis considers a wide variety of additional factors that affect the determination of capital income taxation policy, including the desire to tax economic rents earned by foreign and domestic firms, the desire to take advantage of any treasury transfer effects, the role played by transfer pricing and other financial accounting manipulations by foreign multinationals, the need for a backstop to the personal income tax and various political concerns. The paper evaluates several potential income and consumption-based tax reforms in this context. JEL Code: H21, H25, H87     

完善我国税法受益所有人制度的思考

受益所有人条款出现在避免双重征税协定中的股息、利息、特许权使用费的支付条款上,联合国范本及OECD范本均未对其含义进行明确规定。从联合国范本及OECD范本来看,受益所有人应该包含两个要素：一为“所有”;二为“受益”。我国在2009年以国税函[2009]601号文件的形式出台了对受益所有人的认定标准,建议从提高受益所有人条款的立法层次和对受益所有人的内涵增加直接受益的要素等方面,对我国税法的受益所有人条款进行完善。     

Is Tax Harmonization Useful?

It is a widely acknowledged result of the literature on international tax competition that an inefficient provision of public goods can only be avoided, if taxes are sufficiently coordinated. In this paper we use a model where governments use commodity and factor taxes in the tax competition game. We show that governments will always choose a second-best efficient tax structure in the Nash equilibrium if they have access to a residence-based capital tax and either a destination-based commodity tax or a labor tax. Moreover, we show that tax competition need not foreclose third-best efficiency in a world with a restricted tax policy toolkit.     

Anti-tax-avoidance provisions and the size of foreign direct investment

The paper sets up a model of a multinational firm in which the home country uses a credit with deferral or an exemption system and the host country is a low-tax jurisdiction. In this model the impact of anti-tax-avoidance provisions on the size and the growth of the foreign subsidiary is analyzed. Two main results emerge. First, anti-tax-avoidance provisions may lower the cost of capital of foreign firms quite significantly. Second, in contrast to previous models with limited financial possibilities the paper shows that a tax induced growth dynamics is absent if there are some important tax constellations.     

税收博弈论

税收博弈是税收征纳双方基于税收这一经济利益而发生的相互作用过程中的一系列决策与决策均衡问题.税收博弈关系可以从不同的利益取向、策略选择和共同的博弈均衡追求三方面加以认识.税收博弈是零和博弈、动态博弈、重复博弈及终极意义上的合作博弈.在具体的税收博弈模型的架构与分析中可以得出,税务机关的工作质量与税收制度的完备程度是左右税收博弈纳什均衡成立与否的决定因素,税收博弈的过程体现了对纳税人权利保护和对税制完善的不断追求.     

A General Model of the Behavioral Response to Taxation

This paper generalizes the standard model of how taxes affect the labor-leisure choice by allowing individuals to change both their labor supply and avoidance effort in response to tax changes. Doing so reveals that the income and substitution effect of taxes depend on both preferences and the avoidance technology. Econometric analysis will not in general allow one to separately identify the two influences, unless one can specify observable determinants of the cost of avoidance. The effective marginal tax rate on working must be modified by the addition of an avoidance-facilitating effect, which measures how the cost of avoidance changes with higher income. This model provides a conceptual structure for evaluating to what extent, and in what situations, the opportunities for tax avoidance mitigate the real substitution response to taxation.     

Economic Effects of Taxing Different Organizational Forms under the Nordic Dual Income Tax

This paper analyzes the economic effects of income splitting rules for closely held corporations and sole proprietorships/partnerships under the Nordic dual income tax. Income is split by imputing a return to capital, but the methods used for this differ between the Nordic countries. With a few notable exceptions, income splitting does well in the sense that the cost of capital is approximately the same in closely and widely held corporations. The special tax rules for sole proprietorships/partnerships manage to neutralize the impact of the high labor income tax on the cost of capital.     

Sharing the Spoils: Taxing International Human Capital Flows

This paper argues that cross-border human capital flows from developing countries to developed countries over the next half-century will demand a new set of policy responses from developing countries. The paper examines the forces that are making immigration policies more skill-focused, the effect of both flows (emigration) and stocks (diasporas) on the source countries, and the range of taxation instruments available to source countries to manage the consequences of those flows. This paper emphasizes the example of India, a large source country for human capital flows, and the United States, an important destination for these human capital flows and an example of how a country can tax its citizens abroad. In combination, these examples point to the significant advantage to developing countries of potential tax schemes for managing the flows and stocks of citizens who reside abroad. Finally, this paper concludes with a research agenda for the many questions raised by the prospect of large flows of skilled workers and the policy alternatives, including tax instruments, available to source countries.     

Does Private Country-by-Country Reporting Deter Tax Avoidance and Income Shifting? Evidence from BEPS Action Item 13

To combat tax avoidance by multinational corporations, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development introduced country-by-country reporting (CbCr), requiring firms to provide tax authorities with a geographic breakdown of their profitability and activities. Treating the introduction of CbCr in the European Union as a shock to private disclosure requirements, this study examines the effect on corporate tax outcomes. Exploiting the €750 million revenue threshold for disclosure and employing regression-discontinuity and difference-in-differences designs, I document a 1–2 percentage point increase in consolidated GAAP effective tax rates among affected firms. I also find evidence consistent with a decline in tax-motivated income shifting, starting in 2018. These results suggest that, although private geographic disclosures can deter corporate tax avoidance, so far, the regulations have had a limited effect on tax-motivated income shifting. My findings have policy implications for the global implementation of private CbCr and extend the debate on public versus private disclosure of tax information.     

One-Way Treaty with the World: The U.S. Withholding Tax and the Netherlands Antilles

This paper chronicles the experiences of the U.S. withholding tax on interest income. In 1984, the U.S. repealed its 30 percent withholding tax on interest income paid to foreign persons or corporations. While the tax raised little revenue, it had imposed substantial implicit costs on U.S. corporate borrowers. Since, prior to repeal, domestically issued bonds were subject either to withholding or strict information requirements, many U.S. multinationals raised funds through foreign finance subsidiaries, primarily in the Netherlands Antilles, to avoid the tax. Although the withholding tax rate was effectively reduced to zero in the U.S., this paper demonstrates that interest flows were highly sensitive to their after-tax cost.     

固定资产跨国转移的避税问题研究

固定资产跨国转移有五种方式--购置、租赁、信托、投资以及捐赠.在固定资产跨国转移中,利用国际避税地及其他税收差异政策,可以实现国际避税的财务效果.     

论逆向避税

随着世界经济一体化的程度不断提高 ,国际避税问题也日趋严重。如何防范国际避税已为各个国家和国际组织所重视 ,并成为国际税法中的一项核心问题。在本文中 ,笔者将探讨逆向避税———一种广泛存在于中国国内涉外企业中的国际避税行为。本文首先界定逆向避税的概念 ;其次分析逆向避税的动机和手段 ,并指出逆向避税造成的严重危害 ;最后结合我国税法实际构思相应对策税制及其它措施。