scholarly journals Great powers in global tax governance: a comparison of the US role in the CRS and BEPS

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wouter Lips
Keyword(s):  
Tax Evasion ◽  
Information Exchange ◽  
Multinational Companies ◽  
Great Powers ◽  
Essential Step ◽  
Unilateral Action ◽  
Length Standard ◽  
Automatic Information ◽  
The Us ◽  
Distributional Consequences

The G20 and the OECD recently claimed two successes in global tax governance: adopting automatic exchange of banking information in 2014, and the 2015 BEPS project on taxation of multinational companies. While the former signifies an essential step forward in reducing tax evasion, the BEPS outcomes were criticized for merely patching up flawed taxation principles based on the arms’-length standard. The emergence of global automatic exchange of information is often ascribed to the US who unilaterally enforced its own FATCA automatic information-exchange standard, while no comparable action happened during BEPS. This article investigates the US position on the BEPS outcomes and if a similar unilateral action would have led to more far-reaching cooperation concerning BEPS. By examining the distributional consequences of cooperation in both processes, we conclude that US power in tax governance in both issues is more limited than generally assumed and insufficient to explain global cooperation.

The OECD's Harmful Tax Competition Initiative and the Tax Havens: From Bombshell to Damp Squib

2008 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 1850128 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert T. Kudrle
Keyword(s):  
Tax Evasion ◽  
Information Exchange ◽  
Tax Competition ◽  
Personal Income ◽  
Cayman Islands ◽  
Tax Havens ◽  
Bank Secrecy ◽  
Automatic Information ◽  
Tax Haven ◽  
The Impact

The OECD's Harmful Tax Competition of 1998 departed in both tone and substance from almost anything the organization had published before. The roots of the associated project lie mainly in EU concerns that certain forms of intra-union competition were eroding both the corporate and personal income tax bases of member states. But it appeared impossible to deal with those problems unless policies were also changed in the 40 or so jurisdictions know as “tax havens.” HTC threatened sanctions against the tax havens if they failed to collect and share information upon request about individuals and corporations attempting to evade or avoid income taxes. HTC also set criteria for the legitimacy of claims about corporate location. A firm could claim location in a tax haven only if it had “substantial” activity there. The report created a furor among the tax havens, which complained loudly that they were facing a new form of colonial control by being held accountable for standards they had no role in setting. Over the next several years the corporate element of the project disappeared, and the style of the OECD's approach shifted from confrontation to cooperation. HTC was strongly supported by the Clinton Administration, and summaries of the project's development often stress how much change came with the election of George W. Bush. A careful look at OECD reports, however, reveals that much of the shift in direction occurred before the outcome of the U.S. election in 2000 had been determined. The revised focus on bank secrecy did yield results. Virtually all of the tax havens had acceded to the revised OECD demands for transparency and information exchange by 2004. This article looks at the data on tax haven liabilities to gauge the impact of the project on tax evasion. It employs the ARIMA technique to investigate both tax haven activity as a whole and the particularly important case of the Cayman Islands. No significant impact can be found probably because investment in the havens remains very easy to disguise and very difficult to detect. This suggests that an effective attack on personal income evasion will require more than the OECD demanded. Automatic information-sharing on the ownership based on an internationally consistent set of identifying numbers over a range of financial instruments holds greater promise for a significant decline in the use of the havens for tax evasion.

Nuclear Weapons, South Asia and Morality

Think India ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 535-546
Author(s):  
ABHISHEK CHOUDHARY
Keyword(s):  
South Asia ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Rational Choice Theory ◽  
Choice Theory ◽  
Great Powers ◽  
Moral Perspective ◽  
The Us ◽  
Positive Duties ◽  
Nuclear Development ◽  
Asian Context

The paper analyses the concerns arising from a moral perspective in the context of a renewed arms race in South Asia. It challenges the idea that possession of nuclear power could in any way contribute to any sort of balance. The emulation of so-called great powers and expecting that balance would arrive as it did in the case of the US and the erstwhile-USSR during cold war is detrimental to the temporal and spatial uniqueness of South Asia. Deterrence, based on rational choice theory, does not apply to the South Asian context due to ambiguity owing to mutual mistrust especially in the case of India and Pakistan. Also, it no longer only sates that are sole actors in the international arena. One cannot expect the non-state actors to behave in a rational manner. Furthermore, the idea of ‘credible minimum deterrence’ itself is questionable as it is a flexible posture adjusted to relative prowess and ambiguity in policy further aggravates the situation. The paper argues from a consequentialist notion of ethics and argues that the principles of harm and equity ought be part of nuclear decision-making. Another aspect that the paper uncovers relates to the ‘reification’ of nuclear power. Using a neo-Marxist framework and concept of Lukács, the paper argues that it is no longer the state as a repository of power that decides the trajectory of nuclear development. Rather the nuclear technology has started to dictate the way states are looking at regional and international relations. This inverted relationship has been created due to neglect of any ethical toolkit. The paper thus proposes an ethical toolkit that focuses on the negative duties of not to harm and also the positive duties to create conditions that would avoid harm being done to people.

Global Banks on Trial

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierre-Hugues Verdier
Keyword(s):  
Tax Evasion ◽  
Information Exchange ◽  
Sovereign Debt ◽  
Criminal Cases ◽  
Financial Infrastructure ◽  
Compliance Officers ◽  
The 2008 Financial Crisis ◽  
Financial Indices ◽  
Fundamental Shift ◽  
Global Banks

In the years since the 2008 financial crisis, U.S. prosecutors have brought dozens of criminal cases against the world’s most powerful banks, charging them with manipulating financial indices, helping their customers evade taxes, evading sanctions, and laundering money. To settle these cases, global banks like UBS, Barclays, HSBC, and BNP Paribas paid tens of billions of dollars in fines. They also agreed to extensive internal reforms, hiring hundreds of compliance officers, spending billions on new systems, and installing independent corporate monitors. In effect, they agreed to become worldwide enforcers of U.S. law and policies. This book examines the U.S. enforcement campaign against global banks across four areas: benchmark manipulation, tax evasion, sanctions violations, and sovereign debt. It shows that U.S. prosecutors have unilaterally carved out a new role as global bank regulators, heralding a fundamental shift in how international finance is overseen. Their ability to do so stems from U.S. control over vital hubs of the international financial system, from which they can threaten global banks with exclusion. In some areas, these unilateral U.S. actions have ushered in important multilateral reforms, such as the rise of automatic tax information exchange and better-regulated financial indices. In other areas, such as financial sanctions, unilateralism has attracted protests from other states and attempts to bypass U.S.-based financial infrastructure, which could undermine the country’s power.

Negotiating Global Change: Progressive Multilateralism in Trade in Telecommunications Talks

2003 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paula Murphy Ives
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Global Change ◽  
Information Exchange ◽  
World Trade ◽  
International Negotiations ◽  
Position Change ◽  
Multilateral Trade ◽  
Unilateral Action ◽  
Loss Avoidance ◽  
Predominant Factor

AbstractThis article provides an analysis of negotiated change within the global telecommunications regime. It examines how agreements are achieved in the area of trade and telecommunications, particularly within the aegis of the Geneva-based World Trade Organization (WTO). It argues that, in the negotiations examined, the interplay between unilateral action, bilateral, plurilateral and multilateral processes and the ensuing alchemy of coercion and concord led to an overall reframing of the central problem and thereby facilitated multilateral consensus. Drawing upon evidence from Japan-U.S. bilateral, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and multilateral trade and telecom talks, this research tests the proposition that coercive pressure is the predominant factor in bringing about negotiated change. It also considers the alternate thesis that integrative reframing, involving the search for mutual gains, was paramount in facilitating change. Qualitative observations signal the phenomenon of progressive multilateralism, or the sequential interplay of unilateral action, bilateral, and multilateral processes, wherein undercurrents of coercion reorient perceptions of the outcome from uncertain gains towards loss avoidance. Together with information exchange and interaction, one observes position change. Understanding the dynamics at important impasse points facilitates a critical, political-economy reading of these international negotiations as well as more general conclusions about the nature of governance in this area.

scholarly journals Future of US-China Relations: Conflict, Competition or Cooperation?

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (7) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Syed Muhammad Saad Zaidi ◽  
Adam Saud
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
International Relations ◽  
The United States ◽  
Great Powers ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
Eastern Hemisphere ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Future ◽  
Rise Of China ◽  
The Rise Of China

In contemporary times, the geo-political agenda and geo-economic strategy of the world is being dominated by the ongoing US-China hegemonic competition. Where the United States is trying to prolong the ‘unipolar moment’ and deter the rise of China; China is trying to establish itself as the hegemon in the Eastern hemisphere, an alternate to the US. The entirely opposite interests of the two Great Powers have initiated a hostile confrontational competition for domination. This paper seeks to determine the future nature of the US-China relations; will history repeat itself and a bloody war be fought to determine the leader of the pack? or another prolonged Cold War will be fought, which will end when one side significantly weakens and collapses? Both dominant paradigms of International Relations, Realism and Liberalism, are used to analyze the future nature of the US-China relations.

Demarcation Between the Concepts of Tax Evasion, Tax Planning and Aggressive Tax Planning in the Russian and Foreign Practice

Financial law ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 32-36
Author(s):  
Natalya G. Andrianova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Tax Evasion ◽  
Information Exchange ◽  
Multinational Enterprises ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Tax Planning ◽  
Tax Revenue ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Private Interests ◽  
Border Trade ◽  
The Russian Federation

One of the main consequences of globalization is development of cross-border trade of goods, work and services, emergence of multinational enterprises operating on the territory of two or more jurisdictions. Taxation of multinational enterprises is always controversial taking into consideration seeking of balance of public and private interests which involves taxpayer’s desire to decrease the amount of payable taxes and reverse governmental interest in obtainment of the full amount of the tax revenue. The article covers and differentiates the main models of taxpayer’s behavior aimed at reducing the amount of payable taxes: tax evasion, tax planning and aggressive tax planning, the harm caused by these activities to governmental budget revenues. The article deals with Russian and foreign legal framework and practice of each of the abovementioned legal phenomenon, highlighted the necessity of statutory recognition in the Russian Federation of the term “tax planning” and its principles to define its limits clearly. The article outlines different approaches to the term “aggressive tax planning” and the limits of this term, importance of cooperation among jurisdictions and information exchange to detect and give appropriate legislative and administrative responses for aggressive tax planning schemes.

Enabling the Shipbuilding Virtual Enterprise

2000 ◽  
Vol 16 (01) ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Richard W. Bolton ◽  
Paul Horstmann ◽  
Darcy Peruzzotti ◽  
Tom Rando
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Cost Effectiveness ◽  
Data Management ◽  
Information Exchange ◽  
Information Technologies ◽  
Team Member ◽  
Virtual Enterprise ◽  
The United States ◽  
Virtual Enterprises ◽  
The Us

Shipbuilding in the United States is characterized by large teams of suppliers and subcontractors who collaborate and support shipbuilders. It is important that these shipbuilding teams function as a single integrated organization: A Virtual Enterprise. The inefficiencies and impediments caused by each team member using their own choice of information technologies, software, data management and processes must be addressed to increase overall US shipbuilding efficiency and cost effectiveness. The NIIIP SPARS project is developing the information infrastructure and protocols to enable shipbuilding Virtual Enterprises that will improve collaboration and information exchange within the US shipbuilding community.

The Impact of US and China on ROK–DPRK Relations, 1993–2019

Asian Survey ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-28
Author(s):  
Alec Chung ◽  
Ki Eun Ryu
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Analysis ◽  
Power Distribution ◽  
Korean Peninsula ◽  
Great Powers ◽  
Event Data ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

The relationship between the ROK and DPRK is bound to be affected by the two great powers—the US and China. Especially in recent decades, the power gap between the two great powers has continued to narrow. Given this, how is the geopolitical situation surrounding the Korean Peninsula shaping inter-Korean relations? This study uses event data and statistical analysis to explore the geopolitical factors that shaped inter-Korean relations from 1993 to 2019. We find that DPRK–ROK relations deteriorated as the power gap between the US and China narrowed. Also, inter-Korean relations were positive when DPRK–US relations were positive. In short, we conclude that during the shift in the US–China power distribution, maintaining positive DPRK–US relations while also managing inter-Korean relations peacefully is necessary for peace on the Korean Peninsula.

Country-by-Country Reporting and Other Financial Transparency Measures Affecting the European Union

2021 ◽  
pp. 132-157
Author(s):  
Petr Janský ◽  
Andres Knobel ◽  
Markus Meinzer ◽  
Tereza Palanská ◽  
Miroslav Palanský
Keyword(s):  
Information Exchange ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Virgin Islands ◽  
Cayman Islands ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Member States ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
Automatic Information ◽  
Financial Secrecy ◽  
The Eu

The EU faces large amounts of financial secrecy supplied to it by secrecy jurisdictions. In this chapter, we use the Bilateral Financial Secrecy Index to quantify which jurisdictions supply most secrecy to EU Member States. The chapter assesses the progress of two recent EU policy efforts to tackle financial secrecy: automatic exchange of country-by-country reporting (CbCR) data and black and grey list of non-cooperative jurisdictions. It is found that 34 per cent of the financial secrecy faced by the EU is supplied by other Member States, whose a priori exclusion from the blacklisting exercise reveals its fundamental flaw. Further 13 per cent is supplied by the EU’s dependencies, mainly the UK’s Cayman Islands, Bermuda, and Guernsey. The jurisdictions that supply the most secrecy not covered by automatic information exchange of CbCR data are the British Virgin Islands, United States, and Curacao. Finally the chapter discusses policy recommendations that stem from our analysis.

Regional Middle Powers and the Indo-Pacific Strategic Narrative

2019 ◽  
pp. 110-142
Author(s):  
Timothy Doyle ◽  
Dennis Rumley
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Cold War ◽  
Great Powers ◽  
Pacific Region ◽  
Economic Competition ◽  
Middle Power ◽  
The Us ◽  
Foreign Policies ◽  
Middle Powers ◽  
Policy Interest

In this chapter we argue that, in the Indo-Pacific region since the ‘end’ of the ‘old’ Cold War, there has been a process of political and economic competition among regional great powers for influence over Indo-Pacific core middle powers. One of the essential aims of this process is to create a regional middle power coalition in opposition to either China or the US, one of the elements of the new Cold War. As a result, the foreign policies of US-co-opted states will exhibit a shift in emphasis towards support for the US pivot and an expression of a greater foreign policy interest than heretofore in the Indo-Pacific region, following the US. The result is that an Indo-Pacific self-identification and an ‘Indo-Pacific narrative’ become important components of the foreign policy rhetoric and debate of US-co-opted states.

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