Last week the OECD secretariat published its proposed ‘unified approach’ to update corporate tax rules for the digital era, or at least for one of the project’s two pillars. The proposal is designed to be “the basis for a negotiation that could result in a political agreement by mid-2020.” This agreement is to be made… Continue reading The OECD’s digital tax proposal: untangling the impact of ‘Pillar One’ on developing countries
Category: Tax as a development issue
Unprecedented: Kenya-Mauritius tax treaty ratification struck down in court
Back in 2014 I was in touch with Nairobi-based Tax Justice Network Africa, as they prepared to take the Kenyan government to court over its tax treaty with Mauritius, signed in 2012. The treaty seemed a pretty poor deal for Kenya, lacking adequate anti-abuse protection, preventing Kenya from imposing withholding tax on technical fees, and… Continue reading Unprecedented: Kenya-Mauritius tax treaty ratification struck down in court
The European Union’s tax treaties with developing countries: leading by example?
Yesterday a report I wrote for the European United Left/Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL) group in the European Parliament was published. It was used as input for a hearing of the Parliament’s TAX3 committee, at which Hannah Tranberg from ActionAid, Eric Mensah from the Ghana Revenue Authority and UN Tax Committee, and Sandra Gallina of DG Trade… Continue reading The European Union’s tax treaties with developing countries: leading by example?
Developing Countries’ Role in International Tax Cooperation
Over the past year I’ve worked with the secretariat of the Intergovernmental Group of 24* on a paper that discusses how developing countries could engage with a range of international tax cooperation issues. The paper can be downloaded here: Developing countries’ role in international tax cooperation [pdf]. The G-24 plays a caucusing role for its… Continue reading Developing Countries’ Role in International Tax Cooperation
Certainty in the tax treaty regime
Here’s the text and slides of a talk I gave yesterday at an event called Harnessing the Commonwealth Advantage in International Trade. I want to talk today about issues related to tax treaties in developing countries, and their impact on tax certainty for multinational investors. To do this I think we have to consider two… Continue reading Certainty in the tax treaty regime
Visualising Uganda’s (and others’) tax treaties
Interesting news from Uganda, where the government announced in its latest budget that it has finished formulating its new tax treaty policy, and will be renegotiating treaties that don’t comply. Seatini and ActionAid Uganda will no doubt chalk this up as a success! The news report linked to above also states that the the government… Continue reading Visualising Uganda’s (and others’) tax treaties
Martin Hearson 