Tax Enforcement in the Americas: On the Cutting Edge of the Emerging Double-Edged Sword

1. Introduction As the North American governments have moved aggressively to legislate, implement, and enforce extraterritorially their tax laws, multinational companies and individuals who are part of the global economy increasingly witness the impact of the double-edged sword. Latin American and Caribbean Governments, in need of and competing for revenue from popular bases such as financial transactions and individual entities, are campaigning world-wide for strengthened tax enforcement. They are emulating some of the same methods: (1) unilateral approaches; (2) the use of treaties and agreements; (3) integration of tax and non-tax enforcement; and (4) the use of free trade agreements to provide for tax enforcement cooperation, initially for value-added tax and indirect taxation generally ... [more]