Rethinking the taxation of corporations

Abstract

This thesis examines the taxation of corporate profits in Australia. The thesis is primarily about equity: equity between corporations, legally constructed persons, and human beings. The classical liberal and neo-liberal approaches to human rights are compared with the social liberal approach to human rights and taxation is regarded as a human rights issue. The thesis examines the advantageous treatment that corporations receive, as opposed to humans, in taxation rates and in receiving government welfare payments by way of corporate welfare. Corporations are, unlike humans able to take advantage of transfer pricing giving taxation jurisdictional flexibility. The thesis examines how much tax Australian companies actually pay and the importance of company tax revenues as a proportion of total taxation revenues. This demonstrates the revenue imperative for taxing jurisdictions to effectively tax company profits. The thesis looks at how companies are taxed in the jurisdictions of the United States of America and Canada because they both tax companies at state/province level and at a federal level. That is, they deal with allocating company profits and therefore taxation over different taxing jurisdictions. The thesis surveys and critically analyses various company taxing alternatives being discussed in the European Union. The thesis develops and explores concrete alternative taxing proposals for corporations. The proposals aim to fairly secure tax revenues from corporations and their shareholders, decrease the opportunities for tax avoidance and allocate corporate tax between taxing jurisdictions.

Date of Award	2008
Original language	English