Featured post

The Political Economy of Taxation

The modern state is a ‘tax state’ (Schumpeter 1918). The level and structure of tax revenue determines what a government can and cannot do, who has to pay for the state and who not, who is empowered and who is dis-empowered. In their podcasts, students at the University of St Gallen analyze tax policies worldwide and their impact on important issues such as health, climate or gender equality.

Start listening and learn more about the exciting world of taxation!

Individual taxation and child care deduction for more female labour market participation

How can we foster more female labour market participation in Switzerland? And how can income taxation contribute to this? In order to answer these questions, Austria’s income tax system with its child allowances and deductions will be looked at closer to understand, to what extent this can be applied to Switzerland. Thereby, it will be discussed how Switzerland currently manages its income taxation of married couples and what kind of child allowances and deductions are currently in place.

National Political Community and the politics of income taxation in Brazil and South Africa in the Twenty First Century

The Twentieth Century revealed that countries with similar economic development like South Africa and Brazil have significant differences in taxing personal income ranging from 4% in Brazil to almost 16% (% GDP) in South Africa by the end of the century. In his predominant cross-country comparison Evan S. Liebermann argued that the National Political Community was ultimately responsible for the differences in the development of income policies. Within the three volumes of Podcast’s I will elaborate and discuss the National Political Communities and Income Taxation in both countries in the twenty first century and provide meaningful insights from Tax specialist.

Tax affiliation of multinationals in view of the permanent establishment definition

International profit shifting allows multinationals to save immense amounts of taxes. However, there are many stakeholders involved in international tax competition. For instance, developing countries suffer from tax shifting strategies, while multinationals benefit by shifting profits to tax havens. In determining the taxes, the permanent establishment plays a key role. The OECD’s Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Action 7 is an approach to prevent the avoidance of permanent establishment status. In this podcast, I will do a holistic analysis of this topic.

Automated Payment Transaction Tax (Micro Taxing)

A Micro Tax or an Automated Transaction Payment Tax is a radical change going from a larger and more complicated tax system to a system with a single comprehensive revenue neutral Automated tax, replacing the present system of personal and corporate income taxing. In this podcast, we aim to look at what it is, similar taxes that have already been introduced, political movements and the pros/cons of introducing this tax.

The Tampon Tax

The tampon tax has become an on-going discussing topic. Support to repeal this tax has increased in the last years, with activists arguing that menstrual hygiene products should be classified as tax-exempt necessities, alongside other items such as food, tap water and medicine. This issue pertains to gender equality, affordability and women’s health. While the large majority of the countries around the world still tax menstrual hygiene products as non-essential goods, some countries are starting to lift or reduce the tax. In 2004, Kenya became a trailblazer when it was the first country in the world to repeal the tampon tax. Listen to this podcast to learn more on the topic, by discovering both sides of the argument, and understanding the implications following an amendment of the tax.

CUM-EX DEALS – Tax Avoidance or Tax Evasion?

Cum-Ex deals – the biggest tax scandal in the history of Germany – refer to very complex financial transactions that involved exploiting a legal loophole in order to enable several organizations to claim the same capital gains tax refund. It is estimated that this has resulted in a loss of several billion euros for the German state. Judiciary is now suppossed to determine whether these deals have been illegal. This podcast deals with the questions what challenges the state now faces and what the implications of this scandal for the political system in Germany are.

Wars and Other Crises as Enablers of “Temporary” Taxation

Thomas Hobbes Leviathan; underneath three bags of money

The history of tax is also one of conflict, danger and upheaval.The purpose of the state has always been to protect the population from internal and external dangers. And that is from where it derives its legitimacy. Now it is in the nature of things that wars and other crises devour enormous financial resources that have to be borne by the general public. In such moments, rulers often get creative and temporarily introduce new measures to meet the costs arising from war or the fight against epidemics. In many cases, however, these new forms of taxation remain in place and are not, after all, of such a provisional nature as once claimed. In this piece, I will discuss the longevity of provisional taxation and use the Swiss direct federal tax, which has its origins in the military tax of the First World War, as an illustration.

International corporate tax competition : transfer pricing

Pierre Beau 20-621-751 This podcast depicts why and how multinationals use the current international tax environment and competition between states to shift their profits from high tax to low tax countries. It especially focuses and explains the mechanisms of one instrument of profit shifting transfer pricing. Finally, it shows using how the international community successfully launched the BEPS Project in 2015 tackling transfer pricing issues with extracts of an interview of Pascal Saint-Amans, Director of […]

Tax Talks: How COVID-19 Changed the Dynamics of Trade Tariffs Medical Equipment

COVID-19 has changed the dynamics of how our world functions today. Wearing masks has become the new “normal” and could be considered a mandatory accessory. However, how did states manage to make medical products available on a large scale? This podcasts discusses how COVID-19 has changed trade and tariffs of medical supplies and how this can have an impact on medical care.

The Political Economy of Taxation: Can a Carbon Tax Fix Climate Change?

Carbon taxes has been at the centre of political discourses on how to alleviate the environmental crisis in recent years. Politicians, NGOs, academics and the private sector seem to agree on the tremendous potential such carbon fiscal policy holds. But will it be enough to triggers an international effort to curb carbon emissions? Who will be the winners and losers of such a policy? In this episode, we are tackling carbon tax and its effect […]

Next Page »