Tax Incentives for Foreign Investment in Latin America and the Caribbean: Do They Need to be Harmonized?

Richard M. Bird ()

No 601, International Tax Program Papers from International Tax Program, Institute for International Business, Joseph L. Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto

Abstract: The issue of harmonizing tax incentives in the various regional economic groupings that exist in the Latin America and Caribbean region has recently again come under discussion. My aim in this paper is essentially to sketch a framework within which countries contemplating this issue may approach it in a way that may both reduce the ‘harm’ that might otherwise occur and also foster more judicious and reasoned consideration of the inevitable trade-offs facing them. To set the stage, I first outline the changing views of tax incentives over the last half-century and consider briefly some aspects of the tax incentives now in place in the region. Following a brief discussion about whether tax competition is bad, good, or simply inevitable, I conclude by outlining a general institutional framework within which economic groupings in the region may best deal with the issue of harmonizing tax incentives for foreign investment.

Keywords: Latin America; Caribbean; tax incentives; policy harmonization; economic unions (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H25 H87 F15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-int and nep-pbe
Date: 2006-01

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Persistent link: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ttp:itpwps:0601

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