In any democratically constituted regime, the real value of the principle of equality can be measured in a very revealing way: by evaluating the consistency and impartiality of tax legislation and its judicial review. Such an evaluation, using a comparative approach to applicable law in several European jurisdictions, is essentially what this book provides. The authors examine such areas as: national variations in the extent of judicial power to review tax legislation; discriminatory tax legislation arising as a response to interest group pressures; the European Convention on Human Rights as the basis for the development of a fully operational principle of equality and the degree of appreciation that should be accorded the democratically legitimized legislature by the judiciary. It also covers: the obligation to provide actual redress to victims of discrimination and the effect of the principle of freedom of establishment on the rules of international tax law. The authors refer throughout to all relevant sources of applicable law, including national constitutions, legislation and case law; th EC Treaty and the European Convention on Human Rights; and the case law of the European Court of Justice and the Euroepan Court of Human Rights.

This definitive work on the law of income tax will prove i nvaluable to those involved in accountancy, the Inland Rev enue or tax law. It will also be of vital assistance to th ose studying income tax on accountancy courses or studying for the Institute of Taxation's examinations. It is both comprehensive and concise and covers all aspects of this i mportant subject.

Elgar Advanced Introductions are stimulating and thoughtful introductions to major fields in the social sciences and law, expertly written by the world s leading scholars.Providing a concise overview of the basic doctrines underlying the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG), Clayton Gillette explores their ambiguities and thus considers the extent to which uniform international commercial law is possible, as well as appraising the extent to which the doctrines in the UN Convention reflect those that commercial parties would prefer. With its compelling combination of doctrine and theory, this book makes an ideal companion for students and legal scholars alike. Key features include: Concise and compact overview of the CISG Includes contemporary developments Provides a theoretical basis for evaluating international sales law Considers perspectives of economic analysis of law.

A tax convention (or tax treaty) is an official agreement between two countries on the administration of taxation when the domestic tax legislation of the respective states applies simultaneously to a particular issue or taxpayer (e.g., when a taxpayer resident in one country derives income from sources in the other country). Tax conventions provide a means of settling on a uniform basis the most common problems that arise in the field of international double taxation. More than 2,000 bilateral tax treaties between countries of the world are based on the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) Model Tax Convention. This book offers the reader a practical introduction to the law of income and capital tax conventions based on the OECD Convention as well as selected legislation and case law. It's an ideal reference for lawyers and tax professionals who want to expand their familiarity with tax treaties.

Sovereign states commonly use tax incentives in order to attract investment and capital from abroad. Although it has been recognized for many years that the forms and features of these incentives can often have harmful effects, there has not until now been a clear, in-depth, full-scale study of what these effects are, how they come about, and how they can be minimized or avoided. Within this volume, Carlo Pinto crystallises the extensive European and American literature in the field, locating his legal analysis in an EU law context that offers a framework within which tax lawyers in both government and business can find common ground. This volume builds an authoritative synthesis and proposal in its detailed discussions of all aspects of the theory and practice of tax competition, including the following: evidence of interjurisdictional tax competition in the US experience and what the EU can learn from it; methodologies to study tax competition; economic evidence of tax competition in Europe; Member States' "benchmark" tax systems; internal market distortion provisions of the EU Treaty (Articles 96 and 97) and relevant EMU provisions. It also examines the: applicability of state aid provisions (EC Treaty Article 87) to direct tax measures; the EU "Code of Conduct" Group; OECD countermeasures against harmful tax competition; and CFC legislation. In the course of his presentation the author analyses various tax regimes and court cases from most EU Member States, outlining the issues and clarifications each brings to the central questions. His final proposal demonstrates that the beneficial effects of tax competition - decrease in direct tax burden, improved efficiency in public administration, enhancement of employment and development - need not be fraught with the risk of fiscal degradation. This is a significant development in the success of the projected harmonisation of taxation in the European Union.

Economics shapes environmental pricing theory, but the law translates theory into reality. This research review examines and discusses carefully selected classic and cutting edge articles from around the world that delve into the legal design features of environmental tax instruments, how governments define the legal authority to use environmental taxation, complex interactions with WTO law and the legal conundrums of border tax adjustments. These influential articles cover a wide range of environmental and legal issues that recur across continents, with carbon taxes and climate change taking centre stage as important case studies. This timely review is an essential resource for those working in the field, whether they are trained in law, economics, political science, environmental science or public finance.

This book covers organized crime groups, empirical studies of organized crime, criminal finances and money laundering, and crime prevention, gathering some of the most authoritative and well-known scholars in the field. The contributions to this book are new chapters written in honor of Professor Dick Hobbs, on the occasion of his retirement. They reflect his powerful influence on the study of organized crime, offering a novel perspective that located organized crime in its socio-economic context, studied through prolonged ethnographic engagement. Professor Hobbs has influenced a generation of criminology researchers engaged in studying organized crime groups, and this work provides a both a look back and this influence and directions for future research. It will be of interest to researchers in criminology and criminal justice, particularly with a focus on organized crime and financial crime, as well as those interested in corruption, crime prevention, and applications of ethnographic methods.

The bricks and mortar of commercial law as we know it are crumbling into dust. Electronic commerce sweeps away the very foundations of what was not so long ago our most solid, comfortable, and secure legal system. In its most advanced form, e-commerce allows unidentified purchasers to pay obscure vendors, in 'electronic cash,' for products that are often goods, services, and licenses all rolled into one. A payee may be no more than a computer that can take up 'residence' anywhere at the drop of a hat; national boundaries are of no consequence whatsoever. Taxation authorities are understandably dismayed. This book, now in its second edition, is a minutely detailed overview of current reality in the worldwide huddle of revenue regimes as they try to cope with the most daunting challenge they have ever had to face. It analyzes a number of fast-moving trends in the behaviors of national taxation authorities, web-based companies, VoiP, certain low-tax (or no-tax) jurisdictions, and international organizations that have significant bearing on the future development of the taxation of e-commerce. These trends include the following: how United States domestic and international tax rules are being interpreted in the effort to accommodate e-commerce; the powerful retailers' lobby against the moratorium on U.S. state and local sales tax on Internet transactions; how VAT rules in EU countries and other jurisdictions are being restructured to accommodate international e-commerce; new theories of income and payment characterization, and in particular the influential OECD ongoing study; and, the crucial discussion over what constitutes a 'permanent establishment' for tax purposes.

This book seeks durable solutions for tax crime and is a great resource for the development of knowledge, policy and law on tax crime. The book uniquely blends current practice with new approaches to countering tax crime. With insights from the EU-funded project, PROTAX, which conducts advanced research on tax crimes, the book comparatively analyses the EU's tax crime measures and the Ten Global Principles (TGPs) on fighting tax crime by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The study critically examines how the TGPs can serve as minimum standards for the EU to counter tax crime such as tax evasion and tax fraud. The study also analyses how the anti-tax avoidance package can be graduated to fight tax crime in the EU. When escalated, the strengths of the EU tax crime measures and TGPs can form a fortress in which criminal law can be empowered to mitigate tax crimes with greater effect. The book will be particularly useful for end-user stakeholders such as tax policy makers, LEAs, professional enablers as well as academics and students interested in productive interaction between tax, criminal and administrative laws.

This authoritative research review presents and discusses carefully selected scholarly articles that describe and examine the principles of international sales law, as set forth in the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG). These seminal pieces reflect various viewpoints of authors from different countries and legal systems, and offer a range of distinct methodological approaches to legal analysis. The review is an invaluable source of reference, providing the reader with both an international and an interdisciplinary perspective on the CISG and its application.

The most comprehensive guide to all cross-border reorganisation techniques available to European companies, European Cross-Border Mergers and Reorganisations is the ideal reference tool for lawyers, auditors, notaries and scholars working in the field.
Providing everything a practitioner needs to co-ordinate a successful cross-border merger, the book analyses the EU Directives and how they have been applied in each of the main EU/EEA member states. The diverging rules for each jurisdiction are highlighted and explained enabling quick comparisons to be made between countries for assessing feasibility of the chosen technique.
As well as the requirements, formalities and potential pitfalls of cross-border mergers, each country analysis addresses the relevant aspects of corporate, employment and tax law such as informing shareholders and employees, verification of the legality of the merger, and language requirements.
The book also considers other cross-border reorganisation techniques, such as demergers, partial demergers, the transfer of branches of activity, the creation of a Societas Europaea or a Societas Cooperativa Europea, and the cross-border transfer of a company's head office or registered office, providing a practical guide to the best possible solution for a practitioner's client. European Cross-Border Mergers and Reorganisations is an easy-to-use reference work for legal, tax and audit professionals involved in mergers.

Most people would agree that tax systems ought to be 'just', and perhaps a great deal more just than they are at present. What is more difficult is to agree on what tax justice is. This book considers a range of different approaches to, and ideas about the nature of tax justice and covers areas such as: - imbalances in international tax arrangements that deprive developing countries of revenues from natural resources and allow wealthy taxpayers to use tax havens; - protests against governments and large business; - attempts to influence policy through more technical means such as the OECD's Base Erosion and Profits Shifting project; - interpersonal matters, such as the ways in which tax systems disadvantage women and minorities; - the application of wider philosophical or economic theories to tax systems. The purpose of the book is not to iron out these underlying differences into a grand theory, but rather to gain a more precise understanding of how and why we disagree about tax justice. In doing so the editors are assisted by a stellar cast of contributors from four continents, with a wide variety of views and experiences but a common interest in this central question of how to agree and disagree about tax justice. This is, of course, not only an intellectual exercise but also a necessary precursor to achieving real-world change.

This book explains the theoretical and policy issues associated with the taxation of financial services and includes a jurisdictional overview that illustrates alternative policy choices and the legal consequences of those choices . The book addresses the question: how can financial services in an increasingly globalized market best be taxed through VAT while avoiding economic distortions? It supports the discussion of the key practical problems that have arisen from the particular complexity of the application of VAT to financial services, and allows for the evaluation of best practice by comparing the major current reform models now being implemented.

Reprint of the uncommon first edition. As much a treatise as it is a handbook, which gives this book more than historical value, it examines the nature of taxation and sources of the power to impose taxes. Contents include "The Construction of Tax Laws," "Taxation by Special Assessment," "The Remedies of the State Against Collectors of Taxes," "Local Taxation under Legislative Compulsion" and "The Remedies for Illegal and Unjust Taxation." "The work is not a mere treatise upon tax titles, but is rather a profound statesman-like and judicial treatise upon the sources of the power of taxation, and the proper subjects upon which it may be exerted, as well as the legitimate mode of its exercise. Judge Cooley has discussed the various questions connected with the subject, in the light of principle, and has presented with clearness and cogency, the reasons underlying them, as well as the authorities in their support. (...) In other words, the author shows the principles whereon the successive steps of taxation rest, whatever may be the particular language of any statute respecting the same. The plan and execution of the work is a happy blending of the philosophical and practical, and the book must meet with a general and abiding approval as well as with a cordial and generous reception." --Western Jurist 10 (1876) 255 Thomas McIntyre Cooley 1824-1898] was the most important American jurist of the late-nineteenth century. One of the first three professors in the law department of the University of Michigan, he was elected to the Michigan Supreme Court in 1864 and served as its leading justice for twenty years. He was a prolific author. His 1868 Treatise on the Constitutional Limitations Which Rest Upon the Legislative Power of the States of the American Union was his most important work. It went through six editions by 1890 and was cited more often that any other legal text in the late nineteenth century. His support for Grover Cleveland in the 1884 and 1892 elections contributed to his 1887 appointment by President Cleveland to the Interstate Commerce Commission, where he was the leading commissioner and set several important precedents for administrative process.

As electronic commerce has taken off around the world, countries have struggled to participate in the boom without sacrificing key tax revenue. In recent years, there has been a worldwide explosion in the regulation of e-business, particularly in the area of taxation. Global E-Business Law and Taxation offers expert insight and guidance for practitioners who are involved in e-business transactions.
The contributors of this publication, local tax practitioners with in-depth knowledge of their respective jurisdictions, share expert commentary and analysis with the reader. Global E-Business Law and Taxation compares and contracts e-business tax laws and regulations in North America; Europe, the Middle East and Africa; Latin America; Asia; Australia; and select offshore jurisdictions. Each of the regional sections includes an analysis of e-business taxation developments in major countries within the region.

When the first edition of Professor Butler's book was published in 1999 it was hailed as the first systematic account of Russian law and the Russian legal system since the demise of the Soviet Union. The second edition built on his examination of Russian law in the context of other legal systems and made a thorough examination of the country's legal institutions and procedural and substantive law. In this third edition the author reviews the law reform of Putin's era, including the impact of decisions of the European Court of Human Rights as sources of Russian Law, a new chapter on insurance law and the essentials of local government law. The book has been updated throughout to include the latest legislation since the last edition, including reform of the law of intellectual property, competition, foreign investment, the legal status of foreigners, treaties, securities, pledge and mortgage, State corporations, the legal profession and the penal system, labor law, taxation, procedure, international arbitration, the judicial system and procuracy, justices of the peace, State structure, and environmental and natural resource law.
Butler's emphasis is on post-Soviet law reform and on the creation of a democratic, market-oriented legal framework which seeks to attract foreign investment. Chapters such as those on entrepreneurial law, securities regulation, banking and insurance, taxation, and the status of foreigners and foreign investment law make this volume an essential purchase for those advising potential investors in Russia and the CIS.
For those with a more academic interest in Russian law there are also chapters on Russian legal history and legal theory, together with a detailed guide to relevant publications and materials.
This authoritative work will be embraced by practicing lawyers, the investment community, government legal advisors, and scholars seeking a comprehensive and practical introduction to the Russian legal system.

Critical Issues in Environmental Taxation provides valuable insights and analysis for legislators, policy makers and academics addressing the challenges of pursuing and achieving environmental goals through taxation policy. It contains pioneering and thought-provoking articles contributed by the world's leading environmental tax scholars representing various jurisdictions worldwide. Their aim is to ensure that by discussing and sharing environmental taxation issues that exist around the world, effective approaches used in one country may be considered and possibly implemented by governmental authorities in other countries. The articles published in this work are based on presentations at the Third Annual Global Conference on Environmental Taxation held in April 2002 in Woodstock, Vermont U.S.A.

Volume 4 in the Critical Issues in Environmental Taxation series provides a peer-reviewed selection of papers on environmental taxation written by experts from around the world. Selected from papers delivered at the Annual Global Conference on Environmental Taxation, they cover the theory of environmental taxation, countries' experiences of specific environmental taxes, proposed environmental taxes, and evaluations of the role of taxation compared with other environmental instruments. The book provides an interdisciplinary approach to environmental taxation, drawing on the fields of economics, law, political science, and accounting. Each volume in the series reflects the theme of the conference from which the papers are drawn, as well as other broader themes. Volume 4 will focus on the role of taxation in promoting renewable energy, but also includes a number of papers on other topics related to environmental taxation. Written predominantly by academics, the papers provide in-depth analysis that will provide a valuable resource to people interested in environmental taxation.

The distribution of profits between corporations resident in different jurisdictions gives rise to significant tax planning opportunities for multinational enterprises. As cross-border transactions between corporations grow in number and complexity, the question of how a profit distribution is classified for corporate income tax purposes becomes increasingly important, particularly in the context of issues such as double taxation, non-taxation and tax neutrality. This unique and practical work covers the rules determining which transactions may be classified and therefore taxed as dividend income and how classification conflicts may be resolved. The author examines the classification of various inter-corporate transactions, including: * Payments made under dividend-stripping arrangements. * Fictitious profit distributions. * Economic benefits in the context of transfer pricing. * Returns on debt-equity hybrids. * Interest payments in thin capitalization situations and distributions following liquidation. The analysis of each transaction refers to international tax law. Most weight is given to tax treaties and EU tax law. The approaches adopted in different states' national tax law are covered by a more general analysis. The comprehensive coverage and practical nature of The International Tax Law Concept of Dividend make it an essential acquisition for tax practitioners, researchers and tax libraries worldwide.