The death of the corporate tax

This paper suggests that the proliferation of highly sophisticated corporate tax shelters has been a major reason for the decline of corporate income tax as a percentage of GDP and of total Federal receipts. Many of these shelters have extended beyond solid tax planning and into the realm of subversion. The controversy surrounding possible remedies for these abuses is just as lively as the debates surrounding the tax shelters themselves. This article explores the nature of a variety of tax shelters in an effort to illustrate the insidious nature of the corporate tax shelter problem and then discusses solutions, both legislative and non-legislative, designed to curb these abuses.