Source-Based Taxing Rights from the OECD to the UN Model Conventions: Unavailing Efforts and an Argument for Reform

A significant number of scholars have written about the nexus between fairness in the allocation of taxing rights in double taxation treaties and sustainable development in developing countries. These scholars have argued for expansive taxing rights for developing countries, as against the current source- restricting provisions in taxation treaties between developed and developing countries based on the OECD and UN Model taxation treaties. They have also highlighted the need for developing countries to critically assess their treaty networks, and to consider gaps in their local laws and policies that encourage revenue loss. This paper contributes to this body of knowledge by identifying provisions in Nigeria’s double taxation treaties that encourage revenue loss. It concludes by recommending amendments to Nigeria’s double taxation treaties.

Tax treaty arbitration

Traditionally, tax authorities endeavour to resolve their tax treaty disputes among themselves, by amicable settlement through a mutual agreement procedure (commonly known as ‘MAP’ procedure), without involvement from any third parties—neither arbitrators nor mediators. In past years, due to globalization of countries’ economies and spread of tax treaty networks, the number of disputess, their complexity and revenue interest involved have gone up drastically, exceeding many authorities’ capacities, and resulting in MAP cases taking up increasingly more time, or remaining unresolved at all. It is generally expected that the recent OECD/G20 initiated ‘BEPS’ (short for: Base Erosion and Profit Shifting) measures against international tax avoidance will add further to this. Arbitration so far having been hardly tried in practice, the recent arbitration piece under the BEPS multilateral treaty (MLI) and EU Directive on dispute resolution in international tax matters, however, create new momentum. It is now up to tax authorities if they can accustom themselves to the use of arbitration as an ordinary, and in certain circumstances preferable tool for resolving their disputes.

Constraining Elites: The Impact of Treaty Networks on Foreign Policy

In democracies, elites should be responsive to public opinion. This is especially true in Eastern Europe, where politicians fear electoral sanctions in the process of reform (Roberts and Kim 2011). Public opinion in general in Eastern Europe has been overwhelmingly in favor of European integration (Caplanova et al. 2004). In Ukraine, public opinion was in favor of increased cooperation with the eu, while in Moldova, public opinion was in favor of increased cooperation with the Russian led Customs Union. Ukraine refused to sign an association agreement with the eu, while Moldova enthusiastically signed the same association agreement. Why should both Ukrainian and Moldovan political elites have chosen not to be responsive to public opinion in such an important decision? Using network analysis of bilateral treaties between Russia and Moldova and Russia and Ukraine, I predict the responsiveness of political elites to public opinion toward European integration. I argue that the denser a treaty network between a weaker state and the regional hegemon, the less likely political elites will be to cooperate and move toward European integration. Conversely, less dense treaty networks allow politicians more flexibility in following their own preferences. Further, I offer a prediction for other states in the fsu to seek further cooperation with the eu.

Beneficial Ownership Provisions In Tax Treaties Between Developed And Developing Countries: The Canada/South Africa Example

In the years since the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) adopted its first draft tax treaty in 1963, the world has experienced an astonishing surge in international trade and investment. The tax treatment of these cross-border transactions is affected by double tax agreements. As tax treaty networks will likely continue to expand, concerns about tax treaty abuse might be expected to grow. The extent to which a countrys tax treaty policy favours developing countries - or not - depends upon the extent to which the country is prepared to adopt provisions from the UN model tax convention as opposed to the OECD model. Developing countries, in particular, should carefully consider the design of their tax treaties so as to effectively combat tax avoidance without sacrificing foreign direct investment. To this end, the Canada/South Africa tax treaty is compared and contrasted with these two models. The concept of beneficial ownership is reviewed in this context. It is contended that a general definition in South Africa's Income Tax Act of 'beneficial ownership' would assist in the interpretation of the term for the purposes of South Africa's tax treaties. It is submitted that the scope for the source taxation of passive investment income (viz. dividends, interest and royalties) in the developing country could be magnified through treaty negotiations.

European plans for perpetual peace and their impact upon the law of war

Writers have expressed the view that man's interest in projects for establishing perpetual peace is as old as man's participation in warfare. We cannot be certain that Europe can be considered the cradle of such projects for peace, although the Greek city states certainly elaborated a complex system of treaty relationships between themselves to that end. Europe was not to see a like network of sophisticated treaty relationships until the 19th century. Supporting these elaborate treaty networks was the fact that the Greeks enjoyed a common religious-legal and linguistic substratum which tended to mitigate the harshness of the intense intercity rivalries and enmities. The Greeks, as in so many other excursions in thought, were the architects of the modern array of different kinds of political treaties, e.g., of alliance, confederation, federation and, from the 4th century B.C., peace treaties of unlimited duration. In particular, religious leagues were established for the common defence of a shared and sacred shrine. Such were the Amphictyonys of the 5th century B.C. The religious bond between the cities parties to such compacts extended into the political sphere so that the city states bound thereby became confederated by the terms of the amphictyony, as was the case of the confederate association for the protection of the great shrine at Delphi.