The James Hausman Tax Law and Policy Workshop
Presents:
Allison Christians
McGill University, Faculty of Law
The Rise of Cooperative Surplus Taxation
Wednesday February 3, 2021
12:30pm - 2pm
ZOOM meeting
https://zoom.us/j/94291679770?pwd=eFpObEgxNWtEMjJiYzNRd2tvRnZjdz09
Abstract: The world’s tax policy leaders are currently engaged in debate over who should tax the income streams produced with the help of cross-border regulatory coordination—the cooperative surplus over the gains that, in a counterfactual world, would be available if investments were confined to the domestic economy. To the extent there ever was a coherent relationship between consensus tax policy norms and the distribution of cooperative surplus, that relationship is now hopelessly skewed by real life factors, chief among them the rapid advancement of innovative technology that transcends physical boundaries of all kinds. The growing dissatisfaction of those on the wrong side of the skew had already initiated a rise in innovative ways to tax cooperative surplus when COVID-19 struck, significantly increasing the stakes for taxation and prompting yet more reform proposals. There are now at least fourteen strategies in play, each drawing varying levels of scrutiny, buy-in, and pushback. This Article examines the fourteen and argues that among them, those seeking to tax revenue flows at source have the best chance to alter the distribution of cooperative surplus in the immediate term, provided some formalistic tropes can be overcome.
Allison Christians is Associate Dean (Research) and the H. Heward Stikeman Chair in the Law of Taxation at the McGill University Faculty of Law. Her research and teaching focus on national and international tax law and policy issues, with emphasis on the relationship between taxation and economic development and on the role of government and non-government institutions and actors in the creation of tax policy norms.
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