Corporate tax systems, multinational enterprises, and economic integration

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Kind, HJ; Midelfart, KH; Schjelderup, G
• 署名单位: Norwegian School of Economics (NHH)
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-1996
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jinteco.2004.06.002
• 发表日期: 2005
• 页码: 507-521
• 关键词: Multinational enterprises; Economic integration; Trade costs; international tax competition; tax regimes

摘要

Multinational firms are known to shift profits and countries are known to compete over shifty profits. Two major principles for corporate taxation are Separate Accounting (SA) and Formula Apportionment (FA). These two principles have very different qualities when it comes to preventing profit shifting and preserving national tax autonomy. Most OECD countries use SA. In this paper we show that a reduction in trade barriers lowers equilibrium corporate taxes under SA, but leads to higher taxes under FA. From a welfare point of view, the choice of tax principle is shown to depend on the degree of economic integration. (c) 2004 Published by Elsevier B.V.