During the last two decades increasing globalization of markets put pressure on the tax system in many developed countries and forced significant changes in the structure of the national tax system. The political debates demonstrate an ongoing interest in the assessment of tax reform options. In Germany, the debate focuses on tax effects on location and investment decisions of multinational companies. The Center for Tax Research (CETAR), as a research center of competence, is founded to gain valuable insights on the effects of tax systems on business decisions. Members of CETAR want to bring up new cognitions about reforms of tax systems being in the light of technical changes and globalization at the interface of research, entrepreneurial action and tax policy.
In the competition of tax systems, different countries bid for an inflow of mobile resources by offering a favourable tax treatment. In this competitive context countries still have elements of monopoly (for instance public goods), but they are contestable by migration. Therefore, the mechanism of “exit” and “voice” - the latter in the sense of disaccord - becomes relevant as a continuous appeal for evolutionary change. The limits of differentiation between countries are defined by mobile readiness and willingness, which is determined by utility and cost of location. This development has been advanced by many countries through the liberalization of capital markets. Striking examples for this process are the members of the European Union, which have on the one hand created a single European capital market and on the other have abolished the existing barriers for capital mobility, even for third party countries. Our projects shall analyze theoretically and by means of theoretically supported empirical methods the influence of taxation on entrepreneurial decisions and its implications for national and multinational firms.
Prof. Dr. Caren Sureth, University of Paderborn (Head of CETAR)
Prof. Dr. Thomas Gries, University of Paderborn
Prof. Dr. Dr. Georg Schneider, University of Paderborn
Associated Members
Prof. Dr. Peter Egger, ETH Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zürich
Prof. Dr. Rainer Niemann, Karl-Franzens-University of Graz
Prof. Dr. Ralf Maiterth, Humboldt-University of Berlin
Prof. Dr. Hannes Winner, University of Salzburg
Prof. Dr. Markus Diller, University of Passau
Prof. Dr. Dr. Andreas Löffler, Free University Berlin
Jun.-Prof. Dr. Jens Müller, Karl-Franzens-University of Graz
The team is composed in the way that synergy effects come across as by complementary core competences. It is our aim to make use of a unique combination of team members from business administration (Diller, Löffler, Maiterth, Müller, Niemann, Sureth) and economists (Egger, Gries, Winner). We would like think that we are in a position to competently analyze problems and give answers to questions at the interface of our disciplines. More specifically, our core expertise lies in the fields of Business Taxation, Accounting, Finance, International Trade Theory and Statistics and Econometrics.
Therewith tax developments and questions can be ascertained by the members of CETAR combining competences from theory and econometrics, and looking from different perspectives as from a micro, business and economic view.
CETAR represents a center for high-class analysis in the area of tax research. A platform for an international group of researchers, working together and forcing theoretical and empirical projects about quantitative tax research, has been created by the foundation of CETAR. Next to an intensification of cooperative research, even international scholars are being invited for guest lectures in order to contribute to the conjoint research as well as to assist a broader audience to get to know current tax problems.