An Unacceptable Surrender of Fiscal Sovereignty
The Neoliberal Turn to International Tax Arbitration
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6324916 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Martin Hearson (0000-0002-7108-7372, Institute of Development Studies, corresponding author), Todd N Tucker, Todd Tucker (0000-0002-7498-6381, Institute of Development Studies) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 21 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 225-240 |
| Publication date | 2023-03-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Perspectives on Politics (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1537-5927 • E-ISSN: 1541-0986 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s1537592721000967 |
| OpenAlex | W3164224587 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 51 |
The growth of inequality over the past half century is closely connected to the rise of neoliberal policies and institutions, the latter of which shield capital from state actions that might limit wealth accumulation. Economic nationalism since the global financial crisis has slowed or even reversed this, yet this same era has seen the emergence of a new form of instrument in the neoliberal mold, in a stronghold of state sovereignty: taxation. Under mandatory binding tax arbitration, states cede sovereignty over the interpretation of international tax agreements to panels of transnational tax adjudicators. Focusing on the pivotal role of the United States, we use historical documents, including from the congressional archive and interviews with key actors to ask why tax arbitration emerged late in the neoliberal era, and at a counterintuitive time. We demonstrate that this outcome is the result of instrumental business power driving a process of incremental change through layering, to overcome states’ preference to retain sovereignty. This experience sheds light on the historically structured ways that business power constrains sovereignty in an era of high inequality
Arbitration · Bilateralism · Capital (architecture · Economic system · Economics · Geography · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sovereignty · State (computer science · Corporate Taxation and Avoidance · International Arbitration and Investment Law · Law · Taxation and Compliance Studies
Structure and change in economic history
Firm Interests
The Political Economy of International Tax Governance
New constitutionalism, democratisation and global political economy∗
The Oxford Handbook of Historical Institutionalism
The Offshore World
Coercion, capital, and European states, AD 990-1992
Establishing the Supremacy of European Law
Capitalism, Institutions, and Power in the Study of Business
Explaining Institutional Change
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Globalists
Great Transformations
Of Rule and Revenue
Beyond anarchy
The Structural Power of Business and the Power of Ideas
The new politics of global tax governance
Is neoliberalism still spreading? The impact of international cooperation on capital taxation
From double tax avoidance to tax competition
Indeterminacy, Complexity, Technocracy and the Reform of International Corporate Taxation
Tax Competition and Global Background Justice
Investment Rules and the New Constitutionalism
Rethinking the sovereign state model
The Transformation of International Tax
Overlapping Institutions in Trade Policy
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Powering ideas through expertise
Competing for Scarce Foreign Capital
Theorizing the Judicialization of International Relations
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The Concept of Legalization
Tax Policy in an Era of Internationalization
Competing for Capital
Power, Politics and the City of London after the Great Financial Crisis
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| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2024 - 2025 (2) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |