The Global Pursuit of Tax Revenue: Would Tax Haven Reform Equal Increased Tax Revenues in Developing States?

Abstract

The title question reflects an embedded assumption present in a selection of academic publications and civil society reports considered here, and juxtaposed against the institutional capacity of developing state tax administrations. One conclusion in this literature is that eliminating tax havens will lead to increased tax revenue for the developing economy. However, the role performed by the tax haven generally serves more to reduce tax obligations in the developed home jurisdiction than to influence the multinational corporation's tax obligations in the developing economy host jurisdiction. In the global perspective it is concluded that the elimination of tax havens could help developed states' tax revenue collection problems while offering no clear benefit to developing economies due to the nature of institutional capacity in their tax administrations. *My thanks for the guidance provided by the anonymous referees and editorial team in reducing the polemical tone of the original manuscript. All errors and misconceptions remain my responsibility.