DP416 Capital Flight and Tax Competition: Are there Viable Solutions to Both Problems

• Alberto Giovannini James Hines
1 May 1990

This paper discusses a model corporate tax system based on the application of the residence principle. This tax system, while preserving national sovereignties, minimizes the distortions arising from international capital mobility. The paper is motivated by an analysis of European capital income tax systems, and of the distortions that might arise as obstacles to international capital flows diminish. The alternative system that we analyse has two main properties: it exploits the territoriality of law enforcement, and it allows countries to set the corporate tax rate -- and the extent of double taxation of corporate income -- independently.