Taxing across borders: tracking personal wealth and corporate profits

Zucman, Gabriel (2014) Taxing across borders: tracking personal wealth and corporate profits. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 28 (4). pp. 121-148. ISSN 0895-3309

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Abstract

This article attempts to estimate the magnitude of corporate tax avoidance and personal tax evasion through offshore tax havens. US corporations book 20 percent of their profits in tax havens, a tenfold increase since the 1980; their effective tax rate has declined from 30 to 20 percent over the last 15 years, and about two-thirds of this decline can be attributed to increased international tax avoidance. Globally, 8 percent of the world's personal financial wealth is held offshore, costing more than $200 billion to governments every year. Despite ambitious policy initiatives, profit shifting to tax havens and offshore wealth are rising. I discuss the recent proposals made to address these issues, and I argue that the main objective should be to create a world financial registry.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	https://www.aeaweb.org/journals/jep
Additional Information:	© 2014 by the American Economic Association
Divisions:	Economics
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HF Commerce > HF5601 Accounting H Social Sciences > HG Finance
JEL classification:	D - Microeconomics > D3 - Distribution > D31 - Personal Income, Wealth, and Their Distributions H - Public Economics > H2 - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue > H25 - Business Taxes and Subsidies H - Public Economics > H2 - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue > H26 - Tax Evasion L - Industrial Organization > L2 - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior > L25 - Firm Performance: Size, Diversification and Scope, Age, Profit, and Sales
Date Deposited:	14 Apr 2016 11:29
Last Modified:	14 Apr 2024 17:33
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/66119

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