Impôt sur les sociétés et mondialisation : pas autant d’effet qu’on le prétend

Une étude publiée hier par le FMI présente des analyses intéressantes sur les liens entre la mondialisation et l’impôt sur les sociétés : "il n’y a pas de relation négative entre l’importance de la globalisation financière et les taux et les revenus d’impôts sur les sociétés".

This paper analyzes the extent to which the degree of international economic integration, both financial and trade, affects corporate tax rates. It explores this issue in the context of strategic behavior by countries, taking into account other global and domestic political economy factors. Tax rates are analyzed using a unique tax dataset for advanced and developing economies extending over five decades. We report a number of novel results: there is no general negative relationship between financial globalization and corporate tax rates and revenues—results vary according to country grouping with OECD countries showing a positive relationship; the United States exhibits a “Stackelberg” type of leadership on other countries; trade integration is inversely correlated with tax rates; and public sentiment and ideology affect tax rates. The policy implications of these findings, particularly given budgetary pressures in the aftermath of the global crisis, are noted.

(…)

There is no negative relationship between the extent of FG and corporate tax rates and revenues. Indeed, across some groups of OECD and non-OECD countries, an increase in FG is highly statistically significantly associated with a subsequent upward movement in corporate tax rates and revenues. This reflects both the impact of rising profitability attendant on globalization, and domestic political economy factors relating to desire for portfolio diversification by domestic corporate elites. However, the greater the trade openness, the lower the CT rates. At the same time, there is little evidence that overall higher global financial market integration leads to downward pressure on corporate tax rates.