It comes as no surprise to any observant person in this country that there is a wide disparity in our federal income tax treatment of persons who have differing incomes and financial resources. But while much has been written on tax law complexity and inefficiency, little or nothing has been...

A key objective of many governments is to improve tax revenue mobilization. One way to achieve this is by improving tax compliance. This requires accurate knowledge of the tax gap, i.e. the difference between what should be paid and what is actually paid. Until now, tax gaps have been primarily...

In 1992, the Treasury Department proposed a comprehensive business income tax, or CBIT, as a reform option for the taxation of business income. In Treasury's proposal, all taxes on business income (including income of sole proprietorships) would be replaced by a flat, entity-level tax. Interest...

This study examines the relation between corporate tax avoidance and firm-level productivity. Using a sample of U.S.-listed firms from 1994 to 2017, we show that, ceteris paribus, greater tax avoidance leads to increased productivity. Consistent with the ''funding gap'' of innovative investments...

This paper examines the role of personal income taxes in multinationals’ corporate tax–induced profit shifting. As required by corporate tax rules in most countries, firms need economic substance in low–corporate tax countries to justify profit shifting to these countries. Because higher...

Americans have been inundated with financial scandals at large corporations during the past two years. In many cases, unethical behavior and poor oversight of corporate management are to blame. But a deeper look reveals that the flawed structure of the corporate income tax has been a key driver...

The recent international agreement on a minimum effective corporate tax rate marks a profound change in global tax arrangements. The appropriate level of that minimum, however, has been, and remains, extremely contentious. This paper explores the strategic responses to a minimum tax, which—the...

This essay, scheduled to appear in the 2014 symposium issue of the Chapman Law Review, proposes enactment of a deduction to individuals for distributions received on stock in regular, or "C," corporations when the distributions are reinvested prior to the return date for the year of...

President Biden has proposed an increase in corporate taxes to help "pay for" the American Families Plan. An examination of who actually pays corporate taxes shows that the impact of an increase in corporate taxes may be less than imagined and those who "pay" include many who are not the...