I’m at the United Nations tax committee annual session this week, where I’ve learnt that I have to be careful what I write here, after a couple of posts from this blog were included in an input document [pdf]. Erk! I’ve been taking the opportunity to discuss with delegates the recent article [£] by the… Continue reading Is tax treaty arbitration really a bad thing for developing countries?
Category: Tax treaties
Double tax treaties: a poisoned chalice for developing countries?
It’s been an interesting couple of days here at Strathmore University Business School in Nairobi. I’m at a conference to launch the School’s new Tax Research Centre, which has brought together tax officials, tax practitioners and academics to address some critical issues for Kenya, including anti-avoidance, taxing multinationals and tax treaties. The quality of discussion… Continue reading Double tax treaties: a poisoned chalice for developing countries?
Why the US and Argentina have no Tax Information Exchange Agreement
In this new era of automatic information exchange between tax authorities, the United States has come to be seen as the driving force behind the end of tax secrecy. (Although I note that back in 2010 Tax Justice Network said that the US’ FATCA initiative “preserves the essential Tax Haven USA approach – preventing the… Continue reading Why the US and Argentina have no Tax Information Exchange Agreement
Satellites in geostationary orbit: a new tax justice issue?
When I made an amused reference to item on satellites in the new UN tax committee’s agenda, I wasn’t really sure what it was about. Richard Murphy thought it might be a plan to create tax havens in space. But, now that the UN secretariat have released some preliminary documents for the committee meeting next… Continue reading Satellites in geostationary orbit: a new tax justice issue?
Developing countries and the social nature of international tax
Over the weekend I was lucky enough to be able to attend the 16th annual Critical Tax Theory conference, held this year at the Hastings College of Law in San Francisco. It was a chance to get some really useful feedback from a group who are very focused on using empirical evidence to answer questions… Continue reading Developing countries and the social nature of international tax
Have the source and residence principles become redundant?
How typical. You only just get your head round a concept that you learn it’s no longer useful. So it seems to be with the principles of source and residence, based on a thought-provoking conference at the Oxford Centre for Business Taxation last week. To recap. The fundamental problem of international tax is to allocate… Continue reading Have the source and residence principles become redundant?
Martin Hearson 