The WTO, Export Subsidies, and Tax Competition

Authors

Reuven S. Avi-Yonah, University of Michigan Law SchoolFollow

Document Type

Book Chapter

Publication Date

2005

Abstract

From its beginnings late in the 19th century, the modem state has been financed primarily by progressive income taxation. The income tax differs from other forms of taxation (such as consumption or social security taxes) in that in theory it includes income from capital in the tax base, even if it is saved and not consumed. Because the rich save more than the poor, a tax that includes income from capital in its base is more progressive (taxes the rich more heavily) than a tax that excludes income from capital (e.g., a consumption tax or a payroll tax). However, the ability to tax saved income from capital (i.e., income not vulnerable to consumption taxes) is impaired if the capital can be shifted overseas to jurisdictions where it escapes taxation.

Two recent developments have dramatically augmented the ability of both individuals and corporations to earn income overseas free of income taxation: The effective end of withholding taxation by developed countries, and the rise of production tax havens in developing countries. Since the U.S. abolished its withholding tax on interest paid to foreigners in 1984, no major capital importing country has been able to impose such a tax for fear of driving mobile capital elsewhere ( or increasing the cost of capital for domestic borrowers, including the government itself). The result is that individuals can generally earn investment income free of host country taxation in any of the world's major economies. Moreover, even developed countries find it exceedingly difficult to effectively collect the tax on the foreign income of their individual residents in the absence of withholding taxes imposed by host countries, because the investments can be made through tax havens with strong bank secrecy laws. Developing countries, with much weaker tax administrations, find this task almost impossible. Thus, cross-border investment income can largely be earned free of either host or home country taxation.

Comments

Reprinted from WTO and Direct Taxation, 2005, 115-31, with permission of Kluwer Law International

Publication Information & Recommended Citation

Avi-Yonah, Reuven S. "The WTO, Export Subsidies, and Tax Competition." In WTO and Direct Taxation, edited by M. Lang et al., 115-31. Eucotax Series on European Taxation, vol. 10. The Hague: Kluwer Law International, 2005.