Global Trends and Constraints on Tax Policy in the Least Developed Countries

University of British Columbia Law Review, Vol. 40

University of Wisconsin Legal Studies Research Paper No. 1086

32 Pages Posted: 11 Aug 2009

Date Written: August 7, 2009

Abstract

Through decades of tax reform and cross-border collaboration, the world's wealthiest countries have adopted domestic tax policy norms that meet their mutually beneficial interests. But these norms have introduced rigorous change and increasingly rigid parameters for tax policy in the world's poorest countries. While much scholarly attention is devoted to identifying tax strategies that poor countries could or should adopt in response to global tax trends, relatively little is paid to the process through which these trends developed and how they constrain alternative policy choices. This article argues that many of the biggest challenges to taxation faced by the world's poorest countries are a reflection of the international community's failure to consider the impact of their tax policy consensus on these vulnerable nations. It concludes that the world's wealthiest nations should unleash the global constraints on tax policy by reforming their own approaches to taxation.

Keywords: tax, tax policy, global tax policy, tax reform, cross-border, domestic tax, international, norms, change, tax strategies, tax trends, tax policy consensus, constraints, free trade, international tax, taxation of capital, VAT, value added taxation, consumption taxation, developed countries

JEL Classification: H11, H21, H87, F02, F5, F53, F59, Z13, E63, H2, K33, K34, N4, P45

Suggested Citation

Christians, Allison, Global Trends and Constraints on Tax Policy in the Least Developed Countries (August 7, 2009). University of British Columbia Law Review, Vol. 40, University of Wisconsin Legal Studies Research Paper No. 1086, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1445433 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1445433

Allison Christians (Contact Author)

McGill University - Faculty of Law ( email )

3644 Peel Street
Montreal H3A 1W9, Quebec H3A 1W9
Canada

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