Eradicating the ‘Evils of Double Taxation’

Abstract

In this chapter and Chapter 6, I describe how international tax governance emerged and developed over time. In doing so, I cover the entire history of international taxation. Since this is a period of almost a century, I concentrate on the most important developments on the multilateral, bilateral and unilateral levels. With respect to unilateral policies in particular, I cannot detail the development in all countries. Instead, I mostly focus on domestic policies in the United States, which is the most important player in international tax policy. In this chapter I cover the issue of over-taxation and describe why it was put on the political agenda, how the principles for its solution were developed by the League of Nations and how the institutions became entrenched under the tutelage of the OECD. I also present empirical material on the growth and geographical extension of the bilateral tax treaty network. Chapter 6 focuses on under-taxation.