Wealth

To facilitate and foster cross-border trade and to prevent significant competitive distortions, the European Union requires EU countries to levy a minimum excise duty of €0.36 per liter (US $1.61 per gallon) on gas. As today’s map shows, only Bulgaria sticks to the minimum rate, while all other EU countries opt to levy higher excise

When countries consider changing their tax policies, sometimes they choose to make broad reforms and other times more narrowly targeted reforms. Recently, the Polish government proposed to lower taxes on workers under the age of 26, and on August 1, the targeted tax cut for young citizens went into effect. Lawmakers hope that the policy

The following comments were submitted to the Office of the United States Trade Representative regarding docket number USTR-2019-0009 on August 12, 2019. Thank you for the opportunity to provide comments on the Section 301 Investigation. These comments cover four areas. The structure of the French digital services tax, How that structure interacts with domestic and foreign

According to EU law, every EU country is required to levy an excise duty on beer of at least €1.87 per 100 liters (26.4 gal) and degree of alcohol content (abv), translating to approximately €0.03 per 330ml (12oz) beer bottle at 5% abv. As today’s map shows, only a few EU countries stick to the minimum

A recurring challenge for policymakers is understanding who bears the burden of a tax. For any tax, there is both the person who legally is required to pay and the person who bears the cost due to higher prices or lower take-home pay. The difference is between the legal and economic incidence of a tax.

The Work Opportunity Tax Credit and Jobs Act was introduced in the Senate earlier this year by Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO), Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD), Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ), and Senator Rob Portman (R-OH). This bill would make permanent the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC), which was

High-tax countries have increasingly raised concerns that corporate profits are shifted to low- or no-tax jurisdictions. According to a literature review by economist Nadine Riedel, the range of estimates for profit shifting by multinational businesses stretches from less than 5 percent to more than 30 percent of their income earned at high-tax affiliates being shifted

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As the federal government looks to pass an extenders package, various excise tax provisions are on the table. Excise taxes are placed on specific products or activities instead of on a general tax base, like income or sales. Because excise taxes disproportionately burden low-income people, lawmakers should use excise taxes properly. Excise taxes can be

As countries around the world have been working to address challenges of taxing multinational companies, one theme has been the implementation of tax transparency measures. In theory, requiring businesses to disclose the details about where they do business around the world and where they pay taxes and book their profits will allow governments more leverage

The Italian government has been working for multiple years on a proposal that would tax the revenues of digital companies. This effort has been delayed more than once and even now, it is unclear when the policy will ultimately be implemented. According to the most recent news, the tax will be introduced in 2020, hoping

The legal dam against state and local income taxes in Washington state has sprung a leak. On July 15, a division of the Washington Court of Appeals issued a surprising ruling teeing up for the State Supreme Court an opportunity to reconsider a longstanding constitutional precedent prohibiting nonuniform taxes on income. The case involved a

House Bill 966, the budget passed by the North Carolina General Assembly on June 27, contained some promising tax provisions that would have perpetuated the Tar Heel State’s reputation as a leader in tax reform. However, Governor Roy Cooper (D) vetoed the budget on June 28, and a successful override is unlikely. The governor’s July

Key Findings The country of Georgia has successfully implemented dramatic tax reforms over the last two decades. The system has moved from one with lots of complexity to one that promotes investment and economic growth. The main features of the current system include a 20 percent value-added tax (VAT), a flat personal income tax at

Effective average corporate income tax rates are informative as they reflect the overall tax burden on businesses, a decisive factor for investment decisions. Today’s map shows how these effective tax rates have changed across Europe between 2008 and 2018. Effective average corporate income tax rates capture not only statutory tax rates but also provisions impacting

When businesses operate in multiple countries, they regularly provide products and services to themselves. This can happen in the normal order of business where a large manufacturer has subsidiaries in different countries each making component parts of a larger product. For instance, a German manufacturer could have subsidiaries in Slovakia and Poland that make parts

On June 25, four tax treaties were passed out of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. There is an expectation that the treaties will soon be considered by the full senate. The four treaties include updates to existing tax treaties with Spain, Switzerland, Japan, and Luxembourg. The four treaties that passed on June 25 are not

The Netherlands did not have a CFC regime until it was made mandatory by the European Commission Anti-Tax Avoidance Directive (ATAD). The debut of CFC rules in the Dutch tax system was in January 2019. The Dutch system includes a full participation exemption for foreign capital gains and dividends as well as favorable tax regimes

High-tax countries create an incentive for companies to finance investments with debt because interest payments are tax-deductible, which is usually not the case for equity costs. This encourages global businesses to lend money internally from entities in low-tax countries to entities in high-tax countries. Tax savings in high-tax countries can exceed the increased tax paid

In the United States and across Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, the tax code provides de minimis exemptions and compliance relief for small firms. Firms may be eligible for these provisions if they remain under a threshold for sales, revenue, or payroll, depending on the provision. These tax breaks are partly intended