Offshore Finance and Global Governance

Book excerpt: This book analyzes shifting international taxation strategies in pursuit of tax nomads, individuals and companies who minimize their tax obligations among multiple countries. Focusing on the efforts of the United States, the collective endeavours of the European Union and the global initiative of the OECD under G20 guidance, it investigates their attempts to understand and control the mechanisms employed by such nomads. The author directs particular attention to intellectual property, used by multinational corporations to move income from high-tax to low-tax locations. Contrary to claims that globalization hinders tax collection, Vlcek argues that state sovereignty and state power remain the defining characteristic of international taxation. The EU and OECD in turn, he concludes, are leveraging cooperation with the US to force other countries to share taxpayer information with them. This significant work will interest economists, political scientists and tax experts. /div