Abstract
The following article discusses the undesired consequences of tax competition and presents a proposal for tax reform derived from a very general normative basis: the idea of exchange between governments and taxpayers and the principle of equality. The aim is to tie tax competition to jurisdictional competition in general and thereby maintain tax competition as a productive procedure instead of abolishing it by harmonising tax systems. Surprisingly, systematic double taxation of income, as factor income following the source principle and as citizens' income following the residence principle, is one element of the solution. The other is unitary taxation of business income.
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Scientific Council at the German Federal Ministry of Finance, op. cit. (Feforming International Capital Income Taxation, Bonn 1999, p. 50) proposed aligning the German tax system consistently to either the residence principle or the source principle. Cf. also the report of the Ruding Committee (Commission of the European Communities: Report of the Committee of Independent Experts on Company Taxation, Luxembourg 1992).
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Cf. L. Gerken, J. Märkt, G. Schick, op. cit., pp. 186–195.
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Gerken, L., Märkt, J. & Schick, G. Double income taxation as a response to tax competition in the EU. Intereconomics 36, 244–254 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02928978
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02928978