The dissertation studies harmful tax competition in the East African Community (EAC). With a focus on Rwanda, it mainly refers to the EU and OECD standards. The objective of the study was to... Show moreThe dissertation studies harmful tax competition in the East African Community (EAC). With a focus on Rwanda, it mainly refers to the EU and OECD standards. The objective of the study was to investigate Rwanda’s tax competition practices, in order to determine whether Rwanda is within the parameters of internationally accepted practices. The main orientation was not to draw a new distinction between acceptable versus unacceptable tax practices. Rather, it was to apply the criteria already developed and accepted at the international level to the particular case of Rwanda. The main materials used are: the EAC Treaty, the draft EAC Code of Conduct against harmful tax competition, the 1997 EU Code of Conduct on business taxation, the 1998 OECD Report on harmful tax competition, the COCG assessment reports, the OECD Progress reports, the Rwandan income tax law of 2018 and the investment law of 2021. This dissertation shows the possibility of applying EU and OECD standards by non- OECD and EU countries, particularly developing countries, to create tax systems that are free of harmful tax competition. However, it also shows that OECD and EU standards are not sufficient to eradicate all harmful tax practices, both in developed and developing countries. Show less
The recent economic crisis increased the need for countries and international organizations to find better solutions to tackle tax evasion due to the illicit flow of capitals resulting from the use... Show moreThe recent economic crisis increased the need for countries and international organizations to find better solutions to tackle tax evasion due to the illicit flow of capitals resulting from the use of tax havens and offshore financial centres and to prevent bank secrecy. As a consequence, governments and international organizations have put higher in the political agenda the importance to achieve more transparency and exchange of information by means of increasing international tax cooperation. At international level, organizations such as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development ('OECD'), the United Nations ('UN') and the European Union ('EU') are mobilizing and presenting their own solutions in order to enhance international tax cooperation. For instance whilst the OECD decided to start a peer-review of the application of the OECD standards for transparency and exchange of information in at least 100 jurisdictions including OECD and non-OECD countries; the EU Commission decided to present a EU Communication that deals with the introduction of good governance in tax matters. This EU Communication was adopted by Resolution of the Parliament. For the EU, in order to protect the financial system from non-cooperative jurisdictions and tax havens; actions to achieve international good governance in the tax area -that includes transparency, exchange of information and fair tax competition- need to be implemented. The EU Communication and the EU Resolution result in transparency and exchange of information not only for EU countries and EU potential candidates but also for third countries that require EU development aid or countries that conclude agreements with the EU or with EU countries. The UN whilst following to a certain extent the OECD approach; it has also decided to introduce a new Code of Conduct on Cooperation in Combating International Tax Evasion that will be applicable to developing countries. The aims of this article are to review the current work on international tax cooperation carried out by the OECD, the EU and the UN (para. 1) and subsequently to present and compare the EU Communication and the EU Resolution and to analyze the reasoning behind the adoption by the Commission and Parliament of the principles to promote good governance in tax matters (para. 2). This article also aims to present some thoughts recommendations for further research on international tax cooperation (para. 3). The main focus of this article is the EU work to promote good governance in tax matters, and therefore, the EU Communication and the EU Resolution will be presented in more detail. In order to provide a comparison of the current work on international tax cooperation, the OECD and the UN proposals on transparency and exchange of information will be also addressed in this article. Given that the UN follows to some extent the OECD’s approach, only some of the important issues in which the UN work on international cooperation deviates from the OECD will be presented. Show less
