Lehigh’s School of Business and Economics recently published an article by Madison Gouveia in which tax industry experts at the 57th annual tax forum assessed the impact of Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS)—otherwise known as those pesky loopholes multinational corporations like Apple and General Electric use to legally evade taxes.
The issue is especially pressing now that Republicans control both the White House and Congress. The article explains that tax reform is one issue that both Democrats and Republicans “share in the commonality of recognizing current problems.”
Internationally the dilemma has become more understood as well. Just this year, the EU demanded that Apple repay a staggering $14.5 USD after it was revealed that tax breaks allowed the company to pay no taxes in Ireland from 2003-14. In the U.S., this became a point of contention during the recent presidential election. President-elect Donald Trump advocated a 35 percent tax to companies that exported jobs out of the country, which companies often do solely for tax-incentive purposes.
This year’s forum was designed to provide “attendees with a broad, non-technical understanding of international taxation and its effects on businesses” and “educate those entering the field with an idea of the evolving tax landscape.”
Speakers included former Ingersoll Rand income tax director Brenda Gruver Tarulli ’78; the IRS’ associate chief counsel for international tax matters Margorie Rollinson; OECD’s Tom Neubig; International Tax partner Thomas Calianese ’88; Susquehanna International Group director of tax Philip Poche ’88; and Met Life VP of tax Ken Laguardia ’91.
Neubig described the work of the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which he explained “works to ensure that nations work together in order to promote economic growth and financial stability in international financial systems.” The OECD began monitoring corporate tax loopholes in 2013 in an attempt to “determine how much global revenue is lost as a result of the issue.”
Neubig says, “International reforms could be helpful in the U.S. finally getting its act together moving forward in terms of U.S. tax reform.”