The Integrity of the Tax System after BEPS: A Shared Responsibility

The international tax system is the result of the interaction of different actors who share the responsibility for its integrity. States and multinational corporations both enjoy to a certain extent freedom of choice with regard to their tax behaviour – which entails moral responsibility. Making, interpreting and using tax rules therefore is inevitably a matter of exercising responsibility. Both should abstain from viewing tax laws as a bunch of technical rules to be used as a tool without any intrinsic moral or legal value. States bear primary responsibility for the integrity of the international tax system. They should become more reticent in their use of tax as regulatory instrument – competing with one another for multinationals’ investment. They should also act more responsibly by cooperating to make better rules to prevent aggressive tax planning, which entails a shift in tax payments from very expert taxpayers to other taxpayers. Here, the distributive justice of the tax system and a level playing field should be guaranteed. Multinationals should abstain from putting pressure on states and lobbying for favourable tax rules that disproportionally affect other taxpayers – SMEs and individual taxpayers alike. Multinationals and their tax advisers should avoid irresponsible conduct by not aiming to pay a minimalist amount of (corporate income) taxes – merely staying within the boundaries of the letter of the law. Especially CSR-corporations should assume the responsibility for the integrity of the tax system

Taxation, Reciprocity and Communicative Regulation

Willem Witteveen promoted a communicative style of regulation with a focus on communication and dialogue between parties of more equal standing. The Dutch tax administration uses this approach to achieve voluntary compliance – supplementing the traditional command-and-control method of regulation. The underlying value of reciprocity entails a demand for good communication and even a dialogue between tax administration and taxpayers. Reciprocity here is at issue within the context of legal asymmetry, as the tax administration has considerable unilateral powers, and mutual dependence. Political and legal philosophers elucidate the notion of reciprocity. Spinoza shows the foundational nature of reciprocal collaboration between the sovereign lawmaker and legal subjects. Unlike Hobbes, he does not conceive reciprocity in a static way. More recently, Lon Fuller contrasted the idea of law based upon the principle of reciprocity with the command theory of law – a form of legal positivism. ‘Horizontal Monitoring’ is a specific Dutch form of a communicative style of regulation. This contribution analyses several features of this kind of reciprocal interaction

Tax governance, maatschappelijke verantwoordelijkheid en ethiek in context

De relatie tussen belastingen en maatschappelijke verantwoordelijkheid is complex. De belastingwet moet immers bepalen wat ieder geacht wordt te betalen, maar slaagt daar vaak niet goed in. Ook kan de wet in strijd komen met het rechtvaardigheidsgevoel. Wat betekent dat voor de verantwoordelijkheid van de belastingplichtige? Bovendien zet de belastingwetgever vaak juist bewust aan tot calculerend gedrag. De complexiteit van de tegenwoordige fiscale wet- en regelgeving biedt sommigen mogelijkheden een wel zeer voordelige fiscale weg te bewandelen. Het staat ieder vrij de voordeligste weg te kiezen, maar ergens is er een grens en is er sprake van onverantwoordelijk fiscaal gedrag. Nu de fiscaliteit onder een maatschappelijk en politiek vergrootglas ligt, is bezinning (extra) noodzakelijk. Deze inleiding biedt enige achtergrondinformatie om meer grip te krijgen op dat complexe fenomeen belastingen, de daaraan inherente maatschappelijke verantwoordelijkheid en de roep om betere fiscale governance en moreel verantwoord fiscaal gedrag (en advies). Ik bespreek eerst de diepere maatschappelijke betekenis, de rechtvaardiging, de functies en een aantal dimensies van belastingen. Aansluitend laat ik zien hoe belastingontwijkend gedrag, dat mede door de globalisering mogelijk wordt gemaakt, in het oog van de storm is geraakt. Dat leidde tot meer aandacht voor de morele aspecten van fiscaal gedrag en tax governance