This collective book offers a panorama of the history of tax evasion, tax avoidance and tax havens from the nineteenth century to the present day, based on the latest research in contemporary history. It aims to show that this phenomenon is at the heart of global capitalism, partly as a response of the ruling classes to the rise of progressive taxation, but for other reasons too: notably the development of a powerful tax evasion and avoidance industry in different countries. The book argues that tax competition between states has stimulated the development of tax havens. It discusses the notion of the ‘tax haven’ and proposes a more rigorous concept - that of the ‘tax predator’. Finally, the book sheds light on the socio-political conflicts that have developed around tax evasion and the way in which states have fought against or tolerated the phenomenon.
Author(s): Sébastien Guex, Hadrien Buclin
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 400
City: Cham
Preface
Contents
Editors and Contributors
About the Editors
Contributors
List of Figures
List of Tables
1 Introduction. “Low-Tax Predators” Rather Than “Tax Havens”: New Perspectives on the History of the International Tax Evasion and Avoidance Market
A History Still in Its Infancy
A New Periodization and Its Consequences
Factors Behind the Formation and Development of Tax Havens
The Predatory Role of Tax Havens
The Need for a Rigorous Definition and a Sound Concept of Tax Havens
References
Part I Emergence and Expansion of Tax Havens
2 The Emergence and Expansion of Tax Havens, 1850–2000: Insights from a New Dataset
The Construction of a Dataset on Tax Havens’ History
The Role of Legal Reforms
Data
The Development of Tax Havens
Determinants
The Role of Demand
Other Determinants
Conclusion
Bibliography
3 Emergence and Expansion of the Swiss Tax Haven: The Tax Privileges for Rich Foreigners in the Canton of Vaud, 1840–1959
Some Figures
Why Attract Wealthy Foreigners?
The Tax Exemption of Wealthy Foreigners at the Heart of the Emergence and Development of Wealth and Income Taxation (1840–1916)
The Lump-Sum Taxation: A Product of the First World War (1918–1946)
The Effects of the Second World War: A Minimal Revision of Lump-Sum Taxation (1947–1959)
Conclusion
Bibliography
4 Emergence of, and Threats to, the Belgian Tax Haven During La Belle Epoque, 1890–1914
‘A Convenient and Safe Haven’
New Military Expenses and the French Initiative
Levie’s Taxes
The Excellence of Levie’s Speech
The Four Tax Rules of Charles Woeste
Conclusion
Bibliography
5 The Oil Multinational Shell’s History of Using Tax Evasion Methods, Including Tax Havens and Political Pressure, 1914–1974
Introduction
Avoiding Dutch Taxes Via a ‘Trick’
Amendment of Statutes
Failed Attempt to Deceive the Tax Authorities
Political Influence
Tax Gifts on Curaçao
Complicated Construction
Position of Power
Higher Taxes for the Oil Concern
Tax Evasion of 100 Million
Using the Tax Haven of Curaçao
A ‘Sweetener’ of 35–100 Million
Conclusion
Bibliography
6 Swedish Emigration to Switzerland in the 1960s–1980s Period: Tax Exile and Settlement Choices
Settlement Choices of the Wealthy—to Minimise Taxes or to Live with Other Wealthy People?
Sources and Data
Taxation in Sweden and Switzerland—An Overview
Swedish Immigration in Switzerland
Tax Rates in the Swiss Cantons
Settlement of Swedes in Swiss Cantons
Swedes as Important Lump-Sum Taxpayers
The Clustering of Swedes in Switzerland and Their Socio-Economic Background
Conclusion
Bibliography
7 The Rise of Tax Havens and Conduit Countries from the Early 2000s
Characteristics of Corporate Tax Havens and Conduit Countries
Recent Developments
The Proof of the Pudding Is in the Eating
Conclusions
Bibliography
8 Luxury Free Ports as Purpose-Built Conduits for Tax Evasion, 1990–2020
The History of Free Ports
Geneva Free Port
UK Free Ports
Conclusion
Bibliography
Part II Tax Evasion: Extent, Causes, and Conflicts
9 Income Tax Evasion and Avoidance in Germany, 1850–1920
Tax Collection and Evasion of UK Income Tax
Progressive and Comprehensive Income Tax in German States
Criminal Tax Law and Tax Evasion in Prussia
Bremen
The German Pioneer of Progressive Income Tax: Saxony 1874–1914
Tax Avoidance and Evasion in Saxonia in WWI
Outlook
Bibliography
10 Volume, Social Distribution, and the Instrumentalisation of Tax Evasion in Switzerland: The Case of Zurich, 1860–1945
The Extent of Tax Evasion and Its Social Distribution (1860–1919)
The Political Mobilisation of Tax Evasion Before World War I
Tax Evasion in Zurich During the Interwar Period and the Second World War
Conclusion
Bibliography
11 War Profits and Tax Evasion: Italian Fiscal Policies in the First World War and After the War, 1915–1924
The Tax on War Profits
The Main Tax Evasion Practices
The Assessment of Income and the Collection of the Tax
The Payment of the Tax and Its Vision
Conclusions
Bibliography
12 Tax Compliance in a Crisis: Evidence from the Great Depression, 1929–1936
Introduction
Background
Data
Factors Associated with Tax Non-compliance
Persistent Effects of Tax Non-compliance
Discussion
Limitations
Implications
Concluding Comments
Appendix
Bibliography
Part III Fighting Tax Evasion and Tax Havens?
13 Criminalising Tax Evasion in France, Early Nineteenth Century–2008
Criminal Sanctions Limited to Indirect Taxes During the Long Nineteenth Century
The Difficult Extension of the Repressive Regime to Direct Taxes (1900–1936)
Punishments and Convictions in the Second Half of the Twentieth Century
Conclusion: A Purely Symbolic Penalisation
Bibliography
14 “These Patriots Who Misuse the Law”: The Background to the United Kingdom’s Anti-Tax Haven Legislation of 1936
Offshore Tax Avoidance in the Pre-1914 Era
Taxpayers Shift from Offshore Investment Accounts to Offshore Holding Companies and Trusts
The Revenue’s Search for a Legislative Solution to Offshore Tax Planning
Problems Regarding Information and Enforcement, and the Subsequent Fate of the Legislation
References
15 Tax Evasion as Seen by French Tax Administrations from the 1920s to the 1970s: Pragmatism in Action
Propaedeutic Between Two World Wars
The Ideas Are in Place: The National Bloc
An Uncompromising Assessment in 1929
1.3 Late but Promising Reforms
Between Resistance and Accommodation
The Tax Problem
Time for Reforms and Compliance Teams
Tax Intolerance
Conclusion—Fighting Tax Evasion: Is It an Impossibility?
Bibliography
16 Detecting Ordinary Tax Evaders: The Example of the 1945 National Solidarity Tax in France
A Reparation Tax Threatened by Evasion
Fighting Tax Evasion: A Political, Financial and Moral Imperative
A Campaign Plan to Fight Tax Evasion Upstream
Massive Evasion and Avoidance? The Statistics in Relation to the Files
A Systematic and Methodical Control of the Files
From Arbitration to Arbitrariness? The Controller’s Personal Interpretation
Conclusion
Bibliography
17 Tax Education After WWII: How Spain, the USA, and West Germany Tried to Make Their Citizens Pay Honestly
Introduction: Tax Education as One Field of Tax Compliance Improvement
Tax Education as “Training in Citizenship”: A Transnational Comparison
USA: The International Forerunner in Tax Education
Tax Education as War Propaganda
The 1950s/1960s
The 1970s/1980s
Spain: Tax Education Under Dictatorship, Transition and Democracy
Tax Education in an Authoritarian Regime
From Subjects to Citizens
Tax Education in Developed Democracy
Western Germany: Largely an Abstinence of Tax Education
Widespread Tax Evasion After WWII
No More Tax Education: When the Economic Miracle Starts
Conclusion and Open Questions
Bibliography
Index
