Corporate Income Tax System

The book describes the difficulties of the current international corporate income tax system. It starts by describing its origins and how changes, such as the development of multinational enterprises and digitalization have created fundamental problems, not foreseen at its inception. These include tax competition—as governments try to attract tax bases through low tax rates or incentives, and profit shifting, as companies avoid tax by reporting profits in jurisdictions with lower tax rates. The book then discusses solutions, including both evolutionary changes to the current system and fundamental reform options. It covers both reform efforts already under way, for example under the Inclusive Framework at the OECD, and potential radical reform ideas developed by academics.

Presents the recent trends in the taxation of corporate income in OECD countries, discusses the main drivers of corporate income tax reform and evaluates the gains of fundamental corporate tax reform.

Several recent papers argue that corporate income taxes should not be used by small, open economies. With capital mobility, the burden of the tax falls on fixed factors (e.g., labor), and the tax system is more efficient if labor is taxed directly. However, corporate taxes not only exist but rates are roughly comparable with the top personal tax rates. Past models also forecast that multinationals should not invest in countries with low corporate tax rates, since the surtax they owe when profits are repatriated puts them at a competitive disadvantage. Yet such foreign direct investment is substantial. We suggest that the resolution of these puzzles may be found in the role of income shifting, both domestic (between the personal and corporate tax bases) and cross-border (through transfer pricing). Countries need cash-flow corporate taxes as a backstop to labor taxes to discourage individuals from converting their labor income into otherwise untaxed corporate income. We explore how these taxes can best be modified to deal as well with cross-border shifting.

Many economists and policy-makers believe that the U.S. corporate tax system is in need of reform. There is, however, disagreement over why the corporate tax system needs to be reformed, and what specific policy measures should be included in a reform. To assist policy-makers in designing and evaluating corporate tax proposals, this book reviews the current U.S. corporate tax system; discusses economic factors that may be considered in the corporate tax reform debate; and presents corporate tax reform policy options, including a brief discussion of current corporate tax reform proposals. The current U.S. corporate income tax system generally taxes corporate income at a rate of 35%. This tax is applied to income earned domestically and abroad, although taxes on certain income earned abroad can be deferred indefinitely if that income remains overseas. The U.S. corporate tax system also contains a number of deductions, exemptions, deferrals, and tax credits, often referred to as tax expenditures. Collectively, these provisions reduce the effective tax rate paid by many U.S. corporations below the 35% statutory rate. In 2011, the sum of all corporate tax expenditures was $158.8 billion.

This monograph is principally the work of the late Martin Norr. He completed a draft of the entire monograph but had not yet revised it when he died in late 1972. At that time, the integration of corporate and shareholder taxation was just beginning to become of widespread interest in the United States. With the increasing interest thereafter, the International Tax Program began to revise his manuscript, making as few changes as possible in the original draft. We had the benefit of criticism and analysis from Professor Richard M. Bird of the University of Toronto, now Director of the Institute of Policy Analysis there. In addition, Mr. Mitsuo Sato of the Ministry of Finance in Japan gave freely of his time in carefully suggesting changes throughout the manuscript. The present version of Chapter 3 owes a great deal to his additions and suggestions. Thanks are also due to Professor Hugh J. Ault of Boston College Law School for the Appendix, containing his description of the German integration system that became effective in 1977, which was first published in Law & Policy in International Business. Mr. Norr's interest in the subject of corporate and shareholder taxation developed while he was writing the International Tax Program's World Tax Series volume Taxation in France, published in 1966. The integration of French taxes on corporations and shareholders took place just after that volume was finished, but had been under discussion in France for some time before then.

Many economists and policymakers believe that the U.S. corporate tax system is in need of reform. There is, however, disagreement over why the corporate tax system needs to be reformed, and what specific policy measures should be included in a reform. To assist policymakers in designing and evaluating corporate tax proposals, this report (1) briefly reviews the current U.S. corporate tax system; (2) discusses economic factors that may be considered in the corporate tax reform debate; and (3) presents corporate tax reform policy options, including a brief discussion of current corporate tax reform proposals. The current U.S. corporate income tax system generally taxes corporate income at a rate of 35%. This tax is applied to income earned domestically and abroad, although taxes on certain income earned abroad can be deferred indefinitely if that income remains overseas. The U.S. corporate tax system also contains a number of deductions, exemptions, deferrals, and tax credits, often referred to as “tax expenditures.” Collectively, these provisions reduce the effective tax rate paid by many U.S. corporations below the 35% statutory rate. In 2011, the sum of all corporate tax expenditures was $158.8 billion. The significance of the corporate tax as a federal revenue source has declined over time. At its post-WWII peak in 1952, the corporate tax generated 32.1% of all federal tax revenue. In 2010, the corporate tax accounted for 8.9% of federal tax revenue. The decline in corporate revenues is a combination of decreasing effective tax rates, an increasing fraction of business activity that is being carried out by pass-through entities (particularly partnerships and S corporations, which are not subject to the corporate tax), and a decline in corporate sector profitability. A particular aspect of the corporate tax system that receives substantial attention is the 35% statutory corporate tax rate. Although the U.S. has the world's highest statutory corporate tax rate, the U.S. effective corporate tax rate is similar to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) average. Further, the U.S. collects less in corporate tax revenue relative to Gross Domestic Production (GDP) (1.9% in 2009) than the average of other OECD countries (2.8% in 2009). This report discusses a number of economic considerations that may be made while evaluating various corporate tax reform proposals. These might include analyses of the likely effect on households of certain reforms (also known as incidence analysis). Policymakers might also want to consider how certain corporate tax provisions contribute to the allocation of economic resources, choosing policies that promote an efficient use of resources. Other goals of corporate tax reform may include designing a system that is simple to comply with and administer, while also promoting competitiveness of U.S. corporations. Commonly discussed corporate tax reforms include policies that would broaden the tax base (i.e., eliminate tax expenditures) to finance reduced corporate tax rates. Concerns that the U.S. corporate tax system inefficiently imposes a “double tax” on corporate income has led some to consider an integration of the corporate and individual tax systems. The treatment of pass-through income—business income not earned by C corporations—has also received considerable attention in tax reform debates. How the U.S. taxes income earned abroad, and the possibility of moving to a territorial tax system, have emerged as important issues. Both the Obama Administration and the House Committee on Ways and Means Chairman David Camp have released tax reform proposals that would change the current tax treatment of U.S. multinationals.