Why is international cooperation on taxation so difficult to achieve? The problems in international taxation arise from a sovereignty conflict between the country in which the income originates (source country) and the country in which the recipient of the income resides (residence country). This book explores the equally valid sovereign tax claims of source and of residence countries and highlights the incompatibility of these concurrent tax claims. The resulting incoherence between source and residence countries distorts taxation of cross-border income to a point where it not only creates discriminations but challenges the fundamental principles of international taxation in itself. This is an essential dilemma of international tax policy. And yet, given the profound role the power to tax plays in exercising sovereignty, are governments able, or even willing, to eliminate this essential dilemma?

The way that nation states design their tax systems impacts the sharing of resources and wealth within and across societies. To date, wealthy countries have made tax policy design and coordination choices which allow them to claim more than they are justifiably entitled to from the global economy. In Tax Cooperation in an Unjust World, Allison Christians and Laurens van Apeldoorn show how this presently accepted reality both facilitates and feeds off continued human suffering, and therefore violates conceptions of international distributive justice. They examine two principles that govern tax cooperation across states, and explain how the current international tax order impedes their realization. They then show how states could work toward fulfilling the principles and building a fairer international tax system via incremental yet effective adaptation of key international tax norms and rules.

Series on International Taxation #81 The tax landscape today looks dramatically different from how it appeared even a generation ago. Ongoing sweeping changes in information technologies, massive economic downturns, unforeseen catastrophes such as the global pandemic that hit the world in 2020, and ever more sophisticated methods of tax evasion and avoidance are only some of the factors that have perplexed and even confounded tax authorities. This important book provides a comprehensive overview of the global tax challenges confronting tax policy today, with insightful contributions by both well-known tax experts and fresh new voices in the field. The authors address such critical issues as the following: international tax reform initiatives; effects of climate change; tax justice in times of crisis; international tax cooperation; taxing multinationals; role of tax havens; participation and collaboration of developing countries; the growing presence of artificial intelligence and robots; prospects for a green economic recovery; and tax ethics and social inclusiveness. The contributions originated with the groundbreaking tax summit TaxCOOP2020, held online at the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic in October 2020. At a time when tax policy seems poised at the dawn of a fundamental transformation, this inestimable volume will be welcomed by tax practitioners and academics, concerned government officials, businesspeople, international organizations, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), all of whom will here have access to a variety of points of view and innovative approaches to the future direction of taxation.

Bringing a unique voice to international taxation, this book argues against the conventional support of multilateral co-operation in favour of structured competition as a way to promote both justice and efficiency in international tax policy. Tsilly Dagan analyses international taxation as a decentralised market, where governments have increasingly become strategic actors. While many of the challenges of the current international tax regime derive from this decentralised competitive structure, Dagan argues that curtailing competition through centralisation is not necessarily the answer. Conversely, competition - if properly calibrated and notwithstanding its dubious reputation - is conducive, rather than detrimental, to both efficiency and global justice. International Tax Policy begins with the basic normative goals of income taxation, explaining how competition transforms them and analysing the strategic game states play on the bilateral and multilateral level. It then considers the costs and benefits of co-operation and competition in terms of efficiency and justice.

In 2021, the OECD proposed new rules for the cross-border taxation of multinational corporations. The proposed rules set forth the most significant reform to international tax rules in several decades. They follow approximately a decade of multilateral negotiation led by the OECD and drafted by a broader Inclusive Framework of over 140 countries. The goal of this Article is to highlight the importance of multilateral cooperation and illuminate the obstacles to implementing international tax reform. It argues that the new international tax framework requires unprecedented multilateral cooperation to reallocate taxing rights and limit profit shifting. But such ambitious cooperation may be more than countries can accomplish. The new rules are largely an outcome of political compromises rather than a principled approach to tax policy. They infringe on tax sovereignty, limit tax competition, and undermine the economic interests of the world's developing countries.The Article begins by outlining the OECD's two-pillar approach for addressing the tax challenges of digitalization and profit shifting. It examines the OECD's role in designing international tax rules and explores the obstacles to implementing the OECD's reform. The Article then assesses the anticipated winners and losers from the reform and considers the new approach as a political compromise. It evaluates limitations on tax sovereignty and competition and reflects on the involvement of developing countries in the policymaking process.

This annual publication provides details of taxes paid on wages in OECD countries. It covers personal income taxes and social security contributions paid by employees, social security contributions and payroll taxes paid by employers, and cash benefits received by workers. Taxing Wages 2021 includes a special feature entitled: “Impact of COVID-19 on the Tax Wedge in OECD Countries”.