Tax Policy Heatmap - How Governments Finance Their Operations

The increase of economic cross border activities, with business models being impacted by digitalization has shaped the way countries choose their tax policy. As a consequence, international tax competition has raised at a considerable level. With the intention to coordinate efforts, we see an expansion of international institutions involved in tax policy making but, nevertheless, having sometimes overlapping or conflicting guidelines and standards. While national tax policy tries to raise revenue by taxing what a country has access to, e.g. tourism, commodities and intellectual property, international tax policy should address taxation from a global perspective, limiting and sometimes clashing with a country’s specific aim. This creates uncertainty in the tax arena and can trigger a war on tax.