Impact and Research

The Tax Justice Network began publishing the Corporate Tax Haven Index in 2019, making the 2021 edition the second version. The Index enjoys widespread media coverage and has also started making increasing headway in academic and policy research. Below you will find some examples of the Corporate Tax Haven Index’s impact for both policy implications and broader academic research.

Policy

Shortly after the publication of the Corporate Tax Haven Index 2019, Sengalese President Macky denounced a double tax treaty between Senegal and Mauritius which was unfavourably evaluated by Haven Indicator 20 that year.

The Corporate Tax Haven Index was used as a tool in the Copenhagen Business School's Combatting fiscal fraud and empowering regulators (COFFERS) training event.

The 2020 SDG Index and Dashboards included the Corporate Tax Haven Index's Haven Score Score as one of its indicators for the sustainable development goal (SDG) 17. The CTHI is also referenced in the Sustainable Development Report 2020.

Research

A journal article published in Intertax Volume 48, Issue 4: Positive Spillovers in International Corporate Taxation and the European Union (2020) by Leyla Ates, Moran Harari, and Markus Meinzer

A journal article published in The Role of Finance in Development Volume 1, No. 2: Tax base erosion and corporate profit shifting: Africa in international comparative perspective (2020) by Rachel Etter Phoya, Markus Meinzer, and Shanna Nogueira Lima.

A journal article by Justin Robertson published in The Pacific Review, Volume 34, Issue 2: Global financial networks confront headwinds: China’s shifting offshore relationship with the British Virgin Islands.

A study by Dr. Brigitte Unger, Professor of Law, Economics and Governance Utrecht University, School of Economics, Improving anti-money laundering policy: Blacklisting, measures against letterbox companies, AML regulations and a European executive evaluates the Corporate Tax Haven Index. The study was requested by the European Parliament ECON committee.

We utilized the data set of the CTHI 2019 to closely examine the tax treatment of intellectual property and royalties in the African jurisdictions to infrom initial recommendations on how African nations may best address the impact of digitalisation on taxation: Corporate Income Taxation in the Digital Age: Africa in the Corporate Tax Haven Index by Rachel Etter Phoya, Markus Meinzer, and Shanna Nogueira Lima

IES Working Paper No. 38/2020 The Corporate Tax Haven Index: A new geography of profit shifting  by Leyla Ates et al.

IES Working Paper 37/2020 by Sarah Godar M.A. and doc. Petr Janský Ph.D. entitled Corporate Profit Misalignment: Evidence from German headquarter companies and their foreign affiliates.

In a European Union Joint Research Centre technical report, Szilard Erhart undertook a statistical audit of the Corporate Tax Haven Index and found its methodology to be robust.

Transparency International EU used Corporate Tax Haven Index Data in their 2020 report Murky havens and phantom profits: The tax affairs of EU and UK banks.

Masters thesis by Riley Zecca, Georgetown University: The Financial Services Industry in Bermuda, the Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Islands: An Analysis of Government Finances and Global Implications

The Corporate Tax Haven Index was referenced in a paper presented at the October 2020 Strategica Conference, Preparing for Tomorrow, Today. Black zero and its consequences on sustainable development. Case study: exploitation of forest resources in Romania by Laurențiu Ciornei and Paula Munteanu