Project Researchers: Tatiana Falcao, European University Institute & Bob Michel

The central question we want to address is whether African countries should consider taxing profits from international shipping derived by non-resident shipping companies and which are the policy options available for them to do so. We believe the question fits in with current calls in international tax demanding for the re-evaluation of the century-old rules applied to allocate taxing rights on business profits across states. The debate was initially focused solely on the digitalized economy and fueled by the observation that the old rules which were drawn up to apply to brick-and-mortar business don’t capture value creation in digitalized business models.

Researchers

Tatiana Falcão

Tatiana is a policy expert in international tax and environmental taxation, providing expert consultancy services to the World Bank and ATAF. She is the Coordinator for Helsinki Principle 3 (carbon pricing), at the Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action. Tatiana was previously with the UN Environment Program and UN DESA, overseeing the work of the Committee of Experts in International Cooperation in Tax Matters.

Bob Michel

Bob is a policy expert in the field of international tax and development. Bob has provided consultancy services to various international organisations, including UN DESA, CIAT, IATJ and IBFD. He is a frequent author of articles and book contributions on various topics in relation to international taxation.