Structural confinement vs. policy choices: the ideological and competitive causes of corporate income tax reform

Abstract:

The Asset Mobility Model (AMM) represents one of the most important theoretical models developed to explain the strategic response of states to the modifications of tax policies in other states. One of the most significant predictions derived from the AMM is the “race to the bottom” in the area of Corporate Income Taxation, race that should take place within the wider context of the globalization. According to this model, the state’s capacity to tax various entities from the territory it controls is a function of the mobility of these entities. This paper analyzes the logic of causality advanced by the AMM and the strengths and limitations of this model in studying the evolution of Corporate Income Taxation in the post-communist countries. I investigate the degree to which tax policy changes that might appear to be explained through the AMM cannot be better explained as motivated by ideological or other policy goals.