Designing international tax reform: lessons from TCJA

Mindy Herzfeld ()
Additional contact information
Mindy Herzfeld: University of Florida Levin College of Law

International Tax and Public Finance, 2021, vol. 28, issue 5, No 5, 1163-1187

Abstract: Abstract The Tax Cuts & Jobs Act (TCJA) introduced the most significant changes to the US international tax system in decades. The law changes have been criticized for reducing equity, benefiting wealthier business owners at the expense of individuals in the long term (while also increasing the deficit) adding to complexity, and creating incentives for shifting profits and activities offshore. These critiques give rise to the question of how best, and under what criteria, to evaluate the changes to the international tax system brought about by the US tax reform. This paper analyzes the tax law changes adopted in the TCJA that impact cross-border investment within the context of several decades of policy proposals that recognized the flaws and deficiencies of the prior system and attempted to develop proposals that balanced creating incentives for the efficient use of capital and the benefits of US investment overseas while minimizing incentives for profit shifting. Reviewing the various provisions of the law in the context of a series of reform proposals made over the previous decade shows the extent to which most of the international law changes introduced by the TCJA closely followed these well-developed ideas. And yet, there appears to be a disconnect between the goals of the law change and the extent to which the laws as enacted have effectuated that change. The divergence provides a cautionary tale for public finance economists wishing to engage in international tax regime change.

Keywords: International tax; Tax reform; Profit shifting; Cross-border investment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F23 K34 P48 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10797-021-09675-0 Abstract (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:kap:itaxpf:v:28:y:2021:i:5:d:10.1007_s10797-021-09675-0

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer. ... ce/journal/10797/PS2

DOI: 10.1007/s10797-021-09675-0

Access Statistics for this article

International Tax and Public Finance is currently edited by Ronald B. Davies and Kimberly Scharf

More articles in International Tax and Public Finance from Springer, International Institute of Public Finance Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().