The Impact Of State Sovereignty On Global Trade And International Taxation

This work examines the role of global economic change and the concepts of State sovereignty and jurisdiction in the creation and elimination of direct tax barriers to international trade and investment. Until now there has been no systematic study of the problems of such barriers to trade taking into account these fundamental elements. Here the author applies this new theoretical perspective to a number of specific international tax issues and aims to suggest practical solutions to the problems of direct tax distortions.The issues examined include: International tax non-discrimination; Treaty shopping; The prohibition on the extra-territorial enforcement of revenue laws; The need for tax co-ordination in the relations of the European Community (EC) and Member States with the rest of the world for the effective elimination of direct tax barriers within the EC. The Impact of State Sovereignty on Global Trade and International Taxation constitutes a valuable addition to the literature concerning the interface of trade and tax and international law, and the harmonisation of taxation within the EC. This work was awarded the 1998 Mitchell B. Carroll Prize by the International Fiscal Association for the best work devoted to international fiscal law or comparative tax law.

Many Commonwealth developing countries are potentially affected by the EU and OECD initiatives to regulate international tax competition. These articles by experts from Commonwealth countries discuss the concerns of affected nations, covering globalisation, fiscal sovereignty, WTO issues and more.

An increasing number of States have entered the market looking to invest resources in foreign assets. This emergence of States acting as investors, managing the wealth of a nation and competing in the marketplace with private investors, has attracted growing and wide attention. This book is the first in-depth analysis of the international tax aspects of sovereign wealth investors, and serves as a comprehensive guide to designing tax policy, from a source State perspective, toward inbound sovereign wealth investment. Drawing on a wide range of relevant sources, including international instruments, domestic tax legislation, administrative practice, (international) case law and the writings of highly qualified publicists, the author fully addresses the following aspects of the subject: – the definition, functions, legal form, governance, home State tax status, etc. of sovereign wealth investors; – tax policy considerations and objectives (i.e., neutrality, equity and international attractiveness) from a source State perspective vis-à-vis foreign sovereign wealth investors; and – the potential impact of the sovereign immunity principle, bilateral tax treaties and European (Union) law on source States’ ability to achieve these tax policy objectives in relation to foreign sovereign wealth investors. The conceptual framework developed by the author will greatly assist source States in introducing new tax policy or in evaluating or reconsidering their existing tax policy vis-à-vis foreign sovereign wealth investors. In addition, practitioners, academics and (home States of) sovereign wealth investors will welcome this first authoritative analysis of an important but insufficiently understood subject in international tax.

This book discusses which is the most appropriate tax dimension to best manage the new horizons of the global and digital economy. In this perspective, the efficiency of the main models is examined and two fundamental proposals are put forth: the first one aims at a coordination of the Destination-Based approach with the role of some specific digital assets, such as user data; the second one is a framework for a possible futuristic tax phenomenon all internal to the world of the internet and not linked to traditional territorial States. The compliance of these models with the constitutional principles that western democratic systems have affirmed over time in matters of taxation is then analyzed with particular regard to legal certainty, consent to taxation and to the re-distributive function of taxes. A specific evaluation of the role of the European Union is carried out and the jurisprudence on financial interests of the Union and on State aids is analyzed and tackled in light of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and of the tax sovereignty of member States. The conclusion is that the model of the organization with a general political purpose, from which modern States take their inspiration, appears unfailing for a tax project that would focus on the good and the growth of the person and of the social aggregations in which everyone lives. A model that therefore deserves to be safeguarded, although with new methods and instruments, starting from a Destination-Based Asset-Coordinated approach, in the Third Millennium. The book will be of interest to researchers and academics in international tax law, constitutional law and in political science.

Non-discrimination is a central obligation under both tax treaty and trade law. However, in seeking to strike a balance between national and international interests, its application differs in the two areas of practice. This deeply researched and authoritative work, which explains the policy issues and how non-discrimination analysis works, provides a comprehensive review of non-discrimination rules in WTO and tax treaty law, combining a critical commentary on case law with proposals for an innovative concept for solving cases of discrimination in tax treaty law. Among the practical issues affecting non-discrimination examined in detail are the following: implications that can be drawn from the concepts of non-discrimination under WTO law and Article 24 of the OECD Model; direct and indirect discrimination and analysis of comparability in WTO law and tax treaty law; the MFN and NT rules under the GATT and GATS; the meaning of ‘likeness’ and ‘less favourable treatment’; claiming non-discriminatory tax treatment before tax administrations and courts under a tax treaty; justification of measures against harmful tax competition, low taxation and hybrid mismatch arrangements; thin capitalisation rules, progressive tax rates, foreign losses, group taxation and relief from juridical and economic double taxation under Article 24 of the OECD Model; and integrating a justification defence into any stage of a non-discrimination analysis. The author establishes to what extent formal, substantive and subjective approaches may be applied in a non-discrimination analysis, providing the reasons for the approaches taken. A two-step comparability procedure is applied to selected cases of potential tax discrimination, demonstrating how policy arguments can be addressed under Article 24 of the OECD Model. Drawing on over a half-century of case law in both areas of practice, this comprehensive study of the non-discrimination rules under WTO law and international tax law will be invaluable in systematically solving cases of tax discrimination under Article 24 of the OECD Model and putting forward arguments at any stage of a WTO analysis. Policymakers will benefit from the author’s clear explanation of how national law should comply with international obligations. Also, taxpayers’ advisers will proceed confidently in claims of tax treaty discrimination, and academics will discover an incomparable overview and analysis of anti-discrimination rules in international trade law and double taxation conventions.

This timely book brings clarity to the debate on the new legal phenomenon of environmental border tax adjustments. It will help form a better understanding of the role and limits these taxes have on environmental policies in combating global environmental challenges, such as climate change.

Report of the OECD to the 2000 Ministerial Council Meeting on progess in identifying and eliminating harmful tax practices.

This comprehensive book adopts a nuanced yet straightforward approach to analysing the complex phenomenon of international tax competition. Using the ongoing international efforts of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the European Union (EU) as a basis for its analysis, it explores the mixed effects of tax competition and offers an effective approach that takes account of the asymmetrical global context.