German Foreign Trade in the long run. DFG - Grant (2024 - 2027)

German Foreign Trade in the long run. Development of a data set in SITC standard (GerTrade) (Funded by the German Research Foundation, 2024 - 2027)

12 trillion Dollar untaxed wealth – equivalent of 10% of the global GDP – have been held intax havens in 2022. In large parts, this wealth derived from corporate profits. Nation states, concerned to tackle this loss of state income and to incentivize the re-patronization of profits, agreed to impose strict initiatives, e.g. minimum tax requirements and automated bank information sharing, but in general there has been little effect on the system. One reason for the resistance is its deep historical roots.

Our international collaborative research project aims at tracing the system of corporate tax management back to the late 19th century, by conducting case studies on three prominent Multinational Corporations: Anglo-Persian Oil Corporation (later British Petrol, BP), Aciéries Réunies de Burbach-Eich-Dudelange(ARBED), and Unilever. In our archival research we can detect the knowledge of corporate tax specialists and understand the principles and the strategies of corporate taxation in a very fundamental sense. We found that many issues which politicians are facing today, in fact have a very long history. Profit shifting and transfer pricing have been important tax saving strategies already before WWI. The League of Nations initiatives on double taxation have been toothless in a similar way as modern political initiatives. With our deeper understanding of the more systematic problems of corporate taxation we hope to inform current politics to adjust its instruments.