@article {978, title = {Are U.S. multinational corporations becoming more aggressive income shifters?}, journal = {Journal of Accounting Research}, volume = {50}, year = {2012}, pages = {1245{\textendash}1285}, abstract = {

This paper examines income shifting of U.S. multinational companies over\ the past two decades. Domestic and foreign policy makers are increasingly\ concerned with the effect of income shifting on dwindling tax revenues, however,\ extant research on income shifting by U.S. multinational enterprises is\ mixed. We address the disconnect between the academic literature and the\ policy maker{\textquoteright}s perceptions by examining the extent of multijurisdictional income\ shifting by U.S. multinational companies. We directly address conflicting\ results in extant literature and show that using either multiperiod proxies\ or instrumental variables overcomes weaknesses of annual proxies in this\ setting. Our tests show that U.S. companies have become more active at shifting\ income out of the United States as the regulatory costs of shifting have\ changed. Holding tax rate differences between U.S. and foreign jurisdictions\ constant, our empirical estimates suggest that our sample of 380 corporations\ with low average foreign tax rates collectively shifts approximately $10 billion\ of additional income out of the United States annually during 2005{\textendash}2009 relative\ to 1998{\textendash}2002 due to varying regulatory costs of shifting.

}, author = {Kenneth Klassen and Stacie Laplante} }