Proposal for a Tax Rate Swap to Shield Against the Gap Between Statutory and Effective Tax Rates—A Boost for Entrepreneurship and a Motive for New Investments

This paper focuses on a common problem for entrepreneurs and investors: the uncertainty around the actual tax rate, which is the percent of net income that a corporation pays in taxes. This uncertainty results from a difference (i.e., a gap) between the statutory and the effective tax rate, which is the actual tax rate. This gap results from the legal framework which provides that certain types of incomes and expenses are not considered income. This gap causes significant uncertainty and may hinder entrepreneurship. This paper studies this gap in seven OECD countries (Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, UK, and USA) and Brazil. We selected the 10 top-listed companies of each country and calculated the gaps for the period 2016-2019. Our findings proved that these gaps are unstable and may differ between companies of the same country and between countries. In addition, gaps of specific companies may change over time. The key outcome of this paper is the proposal of a new derivative tax rate swap. Using this derivative, governments will be able to eliminate the gap of specific companies, attract new investment, and increase entrepreneurship.

tax rate swap, corporate taxes, statutory tax rate, effective tax rate, investments, entrepreneurship

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