We propose a methodology for assessing the neutrality of corporate tax reform proposals in an open economy. The methodology identifies variation in effective tax rates to assess the proximity of a tax system to capital export neutrality (CEN) and to market neutrality (MN, which holds if all...

This paper explores the economic consequences of proposed EU reforms for a common consolidated corporate tax base. The reforms replace separate accounting with formula apportionment as a way to allocate corporate tax bases across countries. To assess the economic implications, we use a numerical...

This paper re-examines the impact of consumption and capital income taxes on (a) the incentive to undertake risky investment and (b) the revenue generated from such taxes. It challenges a well-known claim in the literature that a capital income tax with full loss offset can leave incentives to...

We examine how far taxes on corporate income are directly shifted onto the workforce. We use data on 55,082 companies located in nine European countries over the period 1996–2003. We identify this direct shifting through cross-company variation in tax liabilities, conditional on value added...

To prevent profit shifting by manipulation of transfer prices, tax authorities typically apply the arm’s length principle in corporate taxation and use comparable market prices to ‘correctly’ assess the value of intracompany trade and royalty income of multinationals. We develop a model of...

This paper reviews economic principles for optimality of the taxation of international profit, from both a global and national perspective. It argues that for traditional systems based on the residence of the investor or the source of the income, nothing less than full harmonisation across...

This paper assesses the efficiency properties of recent corporation tax re- form proposals of the European Union to introduce international loss consolidation and formula apportionment. We extend the effective tax rate methodology of Devereux and Griffith (1999) to allow for a potential loss and...

This paper addresses broad issues concerning taxes on company profit in a globalized world in which companies, capital, and profit can move easily between countries. It considers reasons for national taxation of company profit in such a world, and reviews the development of such taxes in the...

This paper reviews economic principles for optimality of the taxation of international profit, from both a global and national perspective. It argues that for traditional systems based on the residence of the investor or the source of the income, nothing less than full harmonization across...

The European Commission proposes to replace the current system of taxing corporate income of separate accounting by a two-step 'consolidate and apportionment' procedure. This paper uses a large set of unconsolidated firm-level data to assess the likely impact on corporate tax revenues in each...