Abstract Expenditure-based taxation ( forfait fiscal/Pauschalbesteuerung ) is a distinctive Swiss tax regime under which wealthy non-working foreign residents are taxed according to their estimated living expenses and not, as ordinary taxpayers, on their income or wealth. Drawing on new sources, we analyse the emergence, expansion, and resilience of this tax regime. We show how it became embedded in cantonal tax systems despite repeated criticism from federal authorities and the international community. Expenditure-based taxation was not used to generate tax revenues but to boost high-end sedentary tourism and wealth management services. Intermediaries played a key role in the domiciliation of wealthy foreigners benefitting from such schemes. Besides offering a fresh perspective on Switzerland’s role as a tax haven for wealthy individuals, we shed light on the legal, political, and professional networks that sustain tax privileges and discuss broader issues linked to tax justice and the governance of international wealth.

Abstract This article explores the emergence of tax planning from the 20s to the 70s, focusing on the interplay between national tax policies and tax practices, corporate strategies, and international regulatory frameworks. Using well-documented examples of Thyssen and its successor companies’ tax issues, the analysis indicates how multinational firms exploited tax incentives, navigated legal grey areas, and shifted assets through holding structures to minimize tax burdens. It contributes to current research on the history of tax (avoidance) and considers the corporate level, which has been little researched to date. In view of the comparatively long period under investigation, it sheds light on the rationale behind tax avoidance – for companies and tax authorities alike. Tax avoidance was often not the primary objective but rather a by-product of decisions driven by political and economic considerations, such as securing property rights or financing international operations. It was only with the second wave of globalization in the 1970s that tax optimization increasingly became a central corporate goal. Combining micro-historical case studies with a macro-historical perspective on the development of the global tax architecture, this work illustrates how companies and states, through the dynamic of tax (dis)incentives and regulation, jointly shaped the landscape of international taxation – and of tax avoidances practices.

Abstract This article reconstructs the historical rise of the Big Four accounting firms as central actors in Luxembourg’s offshore financial centre. Moving beyond bank- and law-centric narratives, it traces how international audit networks embedded themselves in a small national market from the 1970s onward through alliances with leading local fiduciaries, integration into the expanding investment fund industry, and participation in regulatory and consultative arenas. Drawing on interviews, professional data, and institutional records, the study shows how these firms shifted from marginal service providers to key architects of tax structuring, fund governance, and financial legislation. Their dominance in fund auditing, growing role in tax and advisory work, and organizational model reshaped professional hierarchies, including the legal sector. The Luxembourg case highlights how global professional service firms act as intermediaries between states and mobile capital, making them structural components of contemporary offshore finance rather than merely technical advisers.

Abstract Business history functions as a moral balance sheet, documenting humanity’s values through markets and economic pricing. This field explores the long-term evolution of the corporation, the role of the entrepreneur, and the shifting definitions of capitalism. While mid-twentieth-century scholarship prioritized large-scale organizational stability, contemporary analysis addresses a «decentralized industrial order» and the political cultures enabling enterprise. In Germany, the discipline shifted significantly in the 1990s toward critical investigations of corporate complicity and ethics during the National Socialist era. Today, as technology disrupts traditional hierarchies, business history transcends narrow organizational studies. By integrating political and cultural insights, it has effectively evolved into a universal history that reflects humanity’s broader moral and financial trajectory.

Article Manfred Grieger, Die Süddeutsche Zucker-AG im Nationalsozialismus. Zuckererzeugung, Nazifizierung, Zwangsarbeit, Kontinuität, Wallstein Verlag, Göttingen 2025, 260 S., € 24,00. was published on March 31, 2026 in the journal Zeitschrift für Unternehmensgeschichte (volume 71, issue 1).