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Taxing Multinationals: The Scope for Enforcement Cooperation
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Taxing Multinationals: The Scope for Enforcement Cooperation

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  • Hindriks, Jean

    (Université catholique de Louvain, LIDAM/CORE, Belgium)

  • Nishimura, Yukihiro

Abstract

Policymakers seeking to raise more tax revenues from multinational enterprises have two alternatives: to raise tax rates or to devote more resources to improve tax compliance. Tougher tax enforcement increases the cost of profit shifting, and thus mitigates tax competition. We present a tax-competition model with two policy instruments (the corporate tax rate and the tightness of tax enforcement). In line with the OECD’s BEPS project, we analyze the scope for enforcement cooperation among asymmetric countries, considering that taxes are set noncooperatively. We show that the low-tax country may fail to cooperate if asymmetry is large enough and that tax havens would never agree to cooperate. Then we identify two drivers for enforcement cooperation. The first driver of cooperation is the complementarity of enforcement actions across countries. This is because the efficiency loss from enforcement dispersion is greater under complementarity. The second driver of cooperation is tax leadership by the high-tax country, which acts as a level-playing field in the tax competition and reduces the extent of disagreement on enforcement.

Suggested Citation

  • Hindriks, Jean & Nishimura, Yukihiro, 2020. "Taxing Multinationals: The Scope for Enforcement Cooperation," LIDAM Discussion Papers CORE 2020037, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    • Handle: RePEc:cor:louvco:2020037
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    Cited by:

    1. Hayato Kato & Hirofumi Okoshi, 2022. "Economic Integration And Agglomeration Of Multinational Production With Transfer Pricing," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 63(3), pages 1325-1355, August.
    2. OKOSHI Hirofumi, 2021. "Innovation for Tax Avoidance: Product Differentiation and the Arm's Length Principle," Discussion papers 21038, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    3. Jean Hindriks & Yukihiro Nishimura, 2021. "Taxing multinationals: The scope for enforcement cooperation," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 23(3), pages 487-509, June.
    4. Hindriks, Jean & Nishimura, Yukihiro, 2021. "Why Minimum Corporate Income Taxation Can Make the High-Tax Countries Worse off: the Compliance Dilemma," LIDAM Discussion Papers CORE 2021010, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    5. OKOSHI Hirofumi, 2024. "Negotiation for Transfer Prices under the Arm's Length Principle," Discussion papers 24026, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    6. Rabah Amir & Evangelia Chalioti & Christine Halmenschlager, 2021. "University–firm competition in basic research: Simultaneous versus sequential moves," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 23(6), pages 1199-1219, December.
    7. Takaaki Hamada, 2023. "Endogenous timing in tax competition: The effect of asymmetric information," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 25(3), pages 570-614, June.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Profit shifting; Tax competition; Tax enforcement; Weakestlink; Tax leadership; Tax Haven;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C72 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Noncooperative Games
    • F23 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Multinational Firms; International Business
    • F68 - International Economics - - Economic Impacts of Globalization - - - Policy
    • H25 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Business Taxes and Subsidies
    • H87 - Public Economics - - Miscellaneous Issues - - - International Fiscal Issues; International Public Goods

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