Events
CUHK LAW CCTL Tax Law and Policy Forum Joint Seminar – ‘Global Minimum Taxation: A Strategic Approach for Developing Countries’ by Dr. Leopoldo Parada
10 Sep 2024
6:00 pm – 7:30 pm (HKT)
Lecture Theatre 3, CUHK Graduate Law Centre, Central, Hong Kong
Dr. Leopoldo Parada, LLM, PhD, is a Reader (Associate Professor) in Tax Law at King’s College London in the UK. Previously he was an Associate Professor in Tax Law and Director or the Centre for Business Law and Practice (CBLP) at the University of Leeds School of Law. In the past he also held academic positions in Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands. Dr Parada also works as an independent tax policy advisor for different national governments and international organisations around the world, and have participated in different legislative tax reforms worldwide, including most recently the introduction of interest limitation rules in Indonesia and the OECD Pillar 2 in Curaçao and Suriname. His research focuses primarily on the international implications of BEPS, the application of tax treaties, and the European and international tax implications of the digitalisation of the economy. Dr Parada is the author of several books and academic articles, and he is also a regular speaker in specialised conferences around the world, including also specialised media outlets both within and outside the UK. Most notably, his academic work has been cited by US Congressional Research Service and by the EU Advocate General in his opinion on the CJEU case C-342/20 related to investment funds in Finland. He has also collaborated with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) in important investigations related to tax avoidance, including the recent “Pandora Papers” in 2021. In 2020, Dr Parada was recognised by the “TaxCOOP 35 Leaders of the Future in Taxation” (Canada) as one of the most promising tax policy experts worldwide.
https://cloud.itsc.cuhk.edu.hk/webform/view.php?id=13693343
Registration Deadline: 1:00 pm (HKT), 9 September 2024
The world has seemingly embraced the altruistic idea of ensuring a minimum level of corporate income taxation worldwide, consolidating a “benefits for all” narrative by which both developed and developing countries apparently gain. However, this altruistic narrative proves to be quite unrealistic for many developing countries. As argued in this article, the perceived benefits of a global minimum corporate income tax in developing countries rest exclusively upon three unconvincing premises. These include the assumption that all corporate income tax incentives provided by developing countries are equally inefficient, the idea that all developing countries can seamlessly transition from corporate income tax competition to alternative forms of tax and non-tax competition, and most notably, the notion that supporting or opposing a global minimum corporate income tax could either boost or diminish tax revenue for developing countries. This article urges a departure from these premises and elaborates upon three strategic recommendations for developing countries, which include: first, viewing a global minimum corporate income tax as a concept divorced from the assumption of revenue gain or loss; second, using the global minimum corporate income tax as an opportunity to reassess their tax and non-tax incentives, encompassing alternative competitive strategies; and third, striving for simplicity and ease of administration in designing and implementing a minimum tax approach. In doing so, developing countries could perhaps find an opportunity to refine their general action plan to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) more effectively while they still try to ride the wave of minimum global corporate income taxation that the world seems to be in.
Language: English
