The Political Economy of Corporation Tax

Excellent technical writing on corporation tax abounds, but it tends to be inaccessible to public lawyers, political theorists and political economists. Although recent years have seen not only an explosion in public law scholarship but also a reawakening of interest in interpretative political theory and political economy, the potential of these perspectives to illuminate the corporation tax debate has remained unexplored. In this important work, John Snape seeks to reconcile these disparate strands of scholarship and to contribute to a new way of understanding and conceptualising the reform of the law relating to corporate taxation. Drawing on important developments in public law scholarship, the study combines elements of political theory and political economy. It advances a new interpretation of corporation tax law as an instrument of rule, through the maximisation of a nation's economic potential. Snape shows how corporate taxation belongs at the centre of any discussion of economic globalisation, not only because of the potential of national tax systems to influence inward investment decisions but also because of the potential of those decisions to shape the public interest that those tax systems might embody. Following public law and politics models, the book looks afresh at the impact of Britain's political institutions, of the processes of its representative government and of the theory that moulds and orders the values that the corporation tax code contains. This is a timely exploration of cutting-edge issues of public policy.

1. Introduction
I. The Senses of 'Political Economy'
II. First Thoughts on Theory and Values
III. Corporate Tax Law and its Reform
2. A Theory of Corporate Tax Reform
I. Tensions and Conventions in Corporate Taxation
II. Technique and Prudence
III. Corporation Tax Law as Public Law
IV. The Outlines of the Interpretation
3. The Reformers
I. Institutions, Objectives, Functions
II. Governance and Corporation Tax Reform
III. The Corporate Sector and the Government
IV. Parliament
V. The Treasury and HM Revenue and Customs
VI. Policy Networks
VII. The Judiciary
VIII. Some Interim Observations
4. The Process of Reform
I. Processes and Interactions
II. The Political Dimension of Corporation Tax Reform
III. The Public, or National, Interest in Corporate Tax Reform
IV. Published Material on the Reform Process
V. Initiating Reform Measures
VI. Developing the Measures
VII. Presentation of Reform Measures
VIII. Delivery of the Measures
IX. Some Connections
5. The Evolving Corporation Tax Base
I. Economics, Realism and Politics
II. Further Implications of Corporation Tax as Public Law
III. Complexity and Instability in the Corporation Tax Code
IV. The Prioritisation of Political Values in the Corporation Tax Code
V. Concluding Comments
6. Conclusions
I. Values and Theory Revisited
II. Working Together
III. The Virtuosity of Prudent Corporate Tax Reform
IV. Corporation Tax as Political Jurisprudence

“This is an important and interesting book showing yet again that tax law provides the material for major research...Clearly Dr Snape wishes us, his readers and his students, to look at the tax law in a fresh way. In this he succeeds. There is scarcely a page without a provocative thought.” –  John Tiley, The Cambridge Law Journal, Volume 72, Issue 03

“The volume is also instructive in the best sense, and for its relatively short length, relates a great deal of unfamiliar information on familiar topics. Yet it is also readable, and indeed becomes more so as the pages progress. Perhaps most importantly, and at the risk of repetition, the underlying aim of placing established interpretations of taxation into more of a critical context is an important one. At the least, it should help to move the debate forward, and it may even allow the undoubtedly valuable insights of "economistic" and other traditions to be translated more effectively into reality.” –  Dominic de Cogan, British Tax Review, No.5

“This is a dense book, full of historical details, painstaking explanations of the subtle differences in theory, and reference to so many organizations, pieces of legislation, and technical terms that a 'Table of Abbreviations' is included (and welcome!) at the outset.

...a worthwhile and meaningful contribution to the literature. Snape's willingness to embrace the 'messiness' of the details instead of attempting to draw simple conclusions from complex phenomenon is a refreshing departure from more technical writing on the subject of taxation.

” –  George R. Crowley, Law and Politics Book Review, Volume 23, No. 1