Over the past twenty years, foreign direct investments have spurred widespread liberalization of the foreign direct investment (FDI) regulatory framework. By opening up to foreign investors and encouraging FDI, which could result in increased capital and market access, many countries have improved the operational conditions for foreign affiliates and strengthened standards of treatment and protection. By assuring investors that their investment will be legally protected with closed bilateral investment treaties (BITs) and double taxation treaties (DTTs), this in turn creates greater interest in FDI.
This short introduction to issues of tax justice explains the meaning and causes of tax injustice and offers options for a better future. Providing insight into the specific failures of Africa s tax systemand the associated problems of capital flight, tax evasion, tax avoidance, and tax competitionthis book explores the role of governments, parliaments, and taxpayers, and asks how stakeholders can help achieve tax justice. Arguing that tax revenues are essential for establishing independent states of free citizens, it demonstrates how the tax consensus promoted by multilateral agencies, such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, has influenced tax policy in Africa and led to a reduction in government revenues in many countries. "
This paper investigates the costs and benefits of concluding double tax treaties with investment hubs. Based on a sample of 41 African economies from 1985–2015, the results suggest that signing treaties with investment hubs is not associated with additional investments; yet, these treaties tend to come with nonnegligible revenue losses. Building on a theoretical model, the paper investigates the role of treaty shopping in driving nominal investment flows and provides indirect evidence for its importance in the sample
In Imposing Standards, Martin Hearson shifts the focus of political rhetoric regarding international tax rules from tax havens and the Global North to the damaging impact of this regime on the Global South. Even when not exploited by tax dodgers, international tax standards place severe limits on the ability of developing countries to tax businesses, denying the Global South access to much-needed revenue. The international rules that allow tax avoidance by multinational corporations have dominated political debate about international tax in the United States and Europe, especially since the global financial crisis of 2007–2008. Hearson asks how developing countries willingly gave up their right to tax foreign companies, charting their assimilation into an OECD-led regime from the days of early independence to the present day. Based on interviews with treaty negotiators, policymakers and lobbyists, as well as observation at intergovernmental meetings, archival research, and fieldwork in Africa and Asia, Imposing Standards shows that capacity constraints and imperfect negotiation strategies in developing countries were exploited by capital-exporting states, shielding multinationals from taxation and depriving nations in the Global South of revenue they both need and deserve. Thanks to generous funding from the Gates Foundation, the ebook editions of this book are available as Open Access volumes from Cornell Open (cornellpress.cornell.edu/cornell-open) and other repositories.
For African cities to grow economically as they have grown in size, they must create productive environments to attract investments, increase economic efficiency, and create livable environments that prevent urban costs from rising with increased population densification. What are the central obstacles that prevent African cities and towns from becoming sustainable engines of economic growth and prosperity? Among the most critical factors that limit the growth and livability of urban areas are land markets, investments in public infrastructure and assets, and the institutions to enable both. To unleash the potential of African cities and towns for delivering services and employment in a livable and environmentally friendly environment, a sequenced approach is needed to reform institutions and policies and to target infrastructure investments. This book lays out three foundations that need fixing to guide cities and towns throughout Sub-Saharan Africa on their way to productivity and livability.
The provision of international services has increased enormously, mainly due to the precipitous growth of the digital economy. Accordingly, the interpretation and application of double taxation conventions (DTCs) to income from services has become a dominant focus in the international taxation. This multiple-award-winning book is an indispensable tool for practitioners and a major contribution to the debate about tax reform. It responds to the need for a comprehensive overview of the tax opportunities and risks relating to the provision of international services. It also offers the rst in-depth analysis of the taxation of income from services vis-à-vis the multilateral instrument (MLI) resulting from the OECD’s Base Erosion and Pro t Shifting (BEPS) initiative. With the thorough analysis of the international taxation of income from services over the last two centuries, the author sheds new light on present tax policy debates and develops workable proposals for bringing brick-and-mortar DTCs into the digital reality. With an abundance of case studies, treaty interpretations, appraisals of policy discussions, and practical solutions, the author examines every aspect of the subject, including the following: – the Model DTCs of the OECD, the United Nations, Germany, and the United States, their similarities and differences; – relationships among the MLI, the Model DTCs, and speci c DTCs; – development of the provisions dealing with services in the DTCs; – how tax authorities and courts of different countries (e.g., the United States, Germany, Brazil, India, and China) apply DTC provisions on the taxation of international services; – opportunities and risks relating to different business practices, such as the subcontracting of services provisions, the hiring-out of labour, the secondment of employees, and the engagement of contract and toll manufacturers; – practical questions about the taxation of different distribution models – from fully edged distributors to commissionaires; – challenges and proposals relating to the differentiation between various types of services under DTCs; – the permanent establishment concept; – to what extent the structure, purposes, and scope of DTCs differ from those of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS); – how changes in the US Model DTC of 2016 affect international service provisions; and – proposed changes to amending the OECD and UN Model DTCs. Viable proposals to simplify DTC provisions dealing with service income and align them with current challenges such as the digital economy and the increasing volume of remote services are offered, particularly in light of the likely impact of the ‘BEPS package’ and its subsequent MLI. This book is poised to become one of the key practice resources for tax lawyers, in-house counsel, and policymakers in the coming years. Interested academics too will bene t from the author’s skill in recognizing the ongoing role of taxation fundamentals in the major revolution currently underway.
This book explores the extent to which contemporary international law expects states to take into account the interests of others - namely third states or their citizens - when they form and implement their policies, negotiate agreements, and generally conduct their relations with other states. It systematically considers the various manifestations of what has been described as 'community interests' in many areas regulated by international law and observes how the law has evolved from a legal system based on more or less specific consent and aimed at promoting particular interests of states, to one that is more generally oriented towards collectively protecting common interests and values. Through essays by experts in the field, this book explores topics such as the sources of international law and the institutional aspects of developing the law and covers a range of areas within the law.
