Browse by: "PRE-2007"

Globalisation has had positive effects on the development of tax systems and has encouraged countries to engage in base broadening and rate reducing tax reforms. However, it has also created an environment in which tax havens thrive and in which governments may be induced to adopt harmful preferential tax regimes to attract mobile activities. Tax competition in the form of harmful tax practices can distort trade and investment patterns, erode national tax bases and shift part of the tax burden onto less mobile tax bases, such as labor and consumption, thus adversely affecting employment and undermining the fairness of tax structures.

The Report emphasises that governments must intensify their cooperative actions to curb harmful tax practices. To achieve this, OECD Member governments have developed "Guidelines on Harmful Preferential Tax Regimes". These Guidelines will discourage the spread of harmful preferential tax regimes and encourage countries with such regimes to eliminate them. To counteract both tax havens and harmful preferential tax regimes, Member governments have also agreed to pursue vigorously the implementation of the other Recommendations in the Report, including entering into a dialogue with non-member countries.

In a drive to encourage risk-taking, entrepreneurship and competitive fiscal advantage, many OECD countries have reformed their personal income tax system fundamentally over the last two decades, generally in ways that can be characterised as rate reducing and base broadening.  This comprehensive study examines the general trends in the taxation of capital and wage income, and the most significant changes that have taken place. It looks closely at the main drivers of reform, the trade-offs between policy objectives, the guidelines, objectives and design features of tax reforms and why fundamental reform of personal income tax systems has been so high on the agenda.

The principal systems of taxes on personal capital income and wage income - comprehensive, dual and flat – are thoroughly examined and evaluated in the OECD countries that have adopted these different systems or a mix thereof.  They are each assessed in terms of the fundamental principles of sound tax policy: simplification, efficiency, equity, tax compliance and tax revenue, and their main advantages and disadvantages are discussed.  

 

This collection of experiences of fiscal decentralisation across a wide range of OECD-Member and non-member economies reveals lessons which are equally of relevance to both groups of countries. A major finding is that fiscal decentralisation is often confused in the latter group of countries with the removal of central-government control over subnational finances. This is a mistake; it may lead to fiscal irresponsibility on the part of local authorities, deteriorating fiscal positions at both levels, and high costs due to duplication of fiscal institutions. The book also finds that insufficient attention has been given to local revenue generation, as opposed to intergovernmental transfers.
The issue of fiscal decentralisation in emerging economies is particularly important, because it arises, in part, from a desire to enhance democracy and local accountability. However, the devolution of responsibilities must take place in an atmosphere of transparency, where the local expertise exists to manage budgeting. Serious consideration must be given to revenue sourcing and effective expenditure control. Finally, local spending must match available revenues without becoming an additional strain on central government resources.

Environmental taxes are receiving growing interest world-wide. From an environmental perspective, a key driver has been the search for more efficient and cost-effective approaches for implementing domestic environmental policies. From a fiscal policy perspective, growing pressures have been exerted to reduce income tax rates and to offset this by broadening the tax base. These reforms provide opportunities to introduce new environmental taxes in a revenue-neutral manner and simultaneously to achieve environmental and fiscal policy objectives.

This volume presents recent developments in designing and implementing environmental taxes in China and OECD countries. Key challenges and opportunities are highlighted, including the role of removing or reforming existing distortionary subsidies that are damaging to the environment; restructuring existing taxes; and introducing new environmental taxes. The papers, which were presented at an OECD Workshop held in October 1998, provide the reader with a unique comparative analysis.

This DAC Reference Paper outlines key issues faced when designing Environmental Fiscal Reform (EFR). EFR refers to a range of taxation and pricing measures which can raise fiscal revenues while furthering environmental goals. The objective is to provide insights and “good practice” on how development co-operation agencies can help developing countries take advantage of EFR approaches in both their development and poverty reduction strategies.

Following a review of the instruments of EFR and related technical issues, Environmental Fiscal Reform for Poverty Reduction focuses on the political economy and governance aspects of EFR. This includes an examination of the precondition for successful design and implementation, the various steps involved through the EFR Policy Cycle, the challenges faced at each stage, and the main stakeholders involved. The role of donors in supporting EFR processes is also outlined.

Subsequently, these issues are reviewed in relation to sectors of particular relevance for developing countries: forestry, fisheries, fossil fuel, electricity, drinking water and industrial pollution control.

The increased speed and mobility of business activities and cross-border transactions resulting from internet usage has particular implications for applying transfer pricing methods and for taxing business profits.  This book presents a two-part look at existing OECD positions on these issues.

Part I of this edition analyses e-commerce transfer pricing in the context of four business models: automated electronic transactions; online auctions for customer-to-customer and business-to-business sales; subsidiary-to-parent web hosting arrangements; and computerised transactions for airline reservations.  The OECD Transfer Pricing Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and Tax Administrations provide guidance on the application of the arm’s length principle to transfer pricing methods.Given the fact patterns of the four business models, Part I assesses how appropriate this guidance is to the issues raised by e-commerce.

Part II of this edition examines the current OECD Model Tax Convention treaty rules for taxing business profits.  It studies whether the existing rules are capable of dealing with the new reality of e-commerce in a fair and effective manner and whether it could be possible to find better alternatives.

This report examines the currently highly topical issue of corporate tax incentives for foreign direct investment (FDI). The ability to offer an internationally competitive tax system is increasingly seen today as a determinative factor influencing FDI. With corporate income tax identified as the component that impacts most directly on multinational companies, much of the pressure for lowering host country tax burdens to attract capital is focused upon this tax. At the same time, corporate taxation plays an important withholding function, raising revenues on domestic-source income that might otherwise escape the tax net. The desire to tax this income while not discouraging foreign investors raises critical questions concerning the sensitivity of FDI to taxation and the appropriate setting of various tax provisions that determine the host country tax burden and influence investment and financing behaviour.

This report considers various corporate tax measures to encourage FDI and a range of issues relevant to assessing their use. Given the central question of how much additional investment can be expected from tax relief and at what cost, the report summarises recent empirical findings which show increasing sensitivity of FDI to host country tax burdens, consistent with trends towards increasing globalisation of production. Other findings are considered which highlight tax-planning opportunities created by certain approaches, leading to unintended revenue leakage. The report emphasises the need to assess possible host and home country tax interactions which can influence tax incentive results, and more generally the need to look beyond what conventional economic analysis might suggest.

While the report is intended primarily as a guide for policy makers in emerging market economies, it may serve as a reference document to tax policy analysts more generally

Launched in 1998, this series (formerly entitled Benefit Systems and Work Incentives) addresses the complicated interactions of tax and benefit systems for different family types and labour market situations and their impact on household incomes and financial work incentives for an average production worker.

This new edition provides detailed descriptions of all cash benefits available to those in and out of work as well as the taxes they were liable to pay across OECD countries during both 2001 and 2002. Total household incomes and their components are calculated for a range of family types and employment situations. The results are used to examine financial incentives to work, either part-time or full-time, as well as the extent to which social benefits prevent income poverty for those without a job. This book also provides a detailed description of the personal tax systems of each OECD country.

Corporate entities underpin most commercial and entrepreneurial activities in market-based economies and have contributed immensely to growing prosperity worldwide over recent decades. Increasingly, however, governments and regulatory bodies have realised that corporate entities ranging from corporations and trusts to foundations and partnerships are often misused for money laundering, bribery and corruption, shielding assets from creditors, tax evasion, self-dealing, market fraud, and other illicit activities.

Prepared against this background, the OECD report Behind the Corporate Veil: Using Corporate Entities for Illicit Purposes opens ways to prevent and combat the misuse of corporate entities. The report shows that the types of corporate entities misused most frequently are those that provide the greatest degree of anonymity to their beneficial owners. With that in mind, the report offers governments and other relevant authorities a menu of policy options for obtaining information on the beneficial ownership and control of corporate entities in order to combat their misuse for illicit purposes.