Tax Hybridity and the Globalization of Taxation: Convergence, Borrowing, Culture

Virginia Tax Review, Volume 44, Pp. 31 - 70

31 Pages Posted: 1 May 2024 Last revised: 4 Feb 2025

See all articles by Henry Ordower

Henry Ordower

Saint Louis University - School of Law

Date Written: April 29, 2024

Abstract

This article argues that tax is a hybrid of civil and common law, public and private law, and is cross-disciplinary. It observes that tax law has become an all-purpose tool for legislators. It seeks to demonstrate how the U.S., a common law jurisdiction, has turned to civil law models for taxation while civil law jurisdictions and the European Union have become common law-like in applying general legal principles from constitutions and treaties and have sought common law models to combat tax avoidance. The ubiquity of tax and its public law influence on private law transactions, its cross disciplinary nature, and its deployment as a legislative tool to manage the economy make it a candidate for reform targeting cross-border uniformity and systemic convergence. Absent embedded cultural barriers in tax law of which there seem to be few, hybridity lends itself to assisting convergence of tax systems critical to a global and uniform tax system essential to global economic development.

This article contributes to the global taxation literature by observing taxation’s hybridity, taxation’s lack of deep cultural underpinnings, taxation’s flexibility as a policy tool, and taxation’s potential for cross-border competition. All these factors make taxation malleable not only as an instrument for international competition, but also for convergence and collaboration despite national sovereignties that otherwise might form an insuperable barrier to convergence. To secure effective collection of tax revenue, there is urgent need to combat exploitation of conflicting tax rules and intentional use of taxation to support competition for resources among nations. The article argues that continuing focus on convergence and cooperation is essential. That focus is made easier by the underlying characteristics of taxation law, its naturally occurring hybridity and trending toward convergence. Distribution, however, remains a barrier to convergence and cooperation. To achieve uniformity, the article argues that collaboration and consensus on revenue distribution internationally is a pressing need.

Keywords: Taxation, tax planning, civil law, common law, public law, private law, legal convergence, cross-disciplinary, tax culture

JEL Classification: K15, K34, K42, H2, H3

Suggested Citation

Ordower, Henry, Tax Hybridity and the Globalization of Taxation: Convergence, Borrowing, Culture (April 29, 2024). Virginia Tax Review, Volume 44, Pp. 31 - 70, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4811242 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4811242

Henry Ordower (Contact Author)

Saint Louis University - School of Law ( email )

100 N. Tucker Blvd.
St. Louis, MO 63101
United States

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