Dzień: 24 lutego, 2016

Tax havens have a valuable role in the global economy. They facilitate the efficient allocation of capital; they encourage saving and investment; and because of tax competition, they encourage better policy in the rest of the world.

If Google thought its troubles in Europe were over, it was badly mistaken. After negotiating sprawling antitrust probes, the Silicon Valley-based firm now faces a fast-spreading legal and political brushfire over its tax affairs that adds to existing disputes over competition and privacy, and has the potential to dwarf its previous problems in the European Union.

Rampant corporate tax dodging and sweetheart deals that cheat governments and skew markets, have prompted the European Commission to unveil a new directive Thursday. The proposed legislation follows a quick succession of tax rulings, settlements and investigations across Europe, involving household names like Apple, Google, McDonald’s and Starbucks. The future law would bring the European Union in line with proposals from the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development and be a critical step toward harmonizing certain tax policies within the EU.

2016 could be the year of the sugar tax, as several large nations consider levies on sweetened food and drinks to battle obesity and fatten government coffers. For years, public health advocates have called for such measures as one prong of an attack against a growing obesity epidemic that has fueled rates of heart disease, diabetes and other illnesses, in both the developed and developing worlds.
Fot. Charley {like, the girl way}/ na lic. Creative Commons/ flickr.com

A new paper published in the Journal of Financial Economics finds that countries with high tax rates on corporate income also have higher corporate leverage ratios. This paper improves upon the methodologies of prior research that had struggled to confirm a link between tax rates and corporate structure.