The Income Tax Paradox - Intertax View The Income Tax Paradox by - Intertax The Income Tax Paradox 38 3

In non-neutral tax systems, levying taxes may have a paradoxical effect on investments: An investment’s value increases due to taxation. The so-called income tax paradox occurs when an investment’s after-tax net present value exceeds the net present value before taxes. In this article, we explain reasons for this paradoxal effect and demonstrate the income tax paradox using numerical examples. We show that occurrence of the tax paradox depends on taxation of interest income in the country where the investment project is carried out. Depending on the tax system, investments that are profitable (unprofitable) on a pre-tax basis can be unprofitable (profitable) due to taxes. Thus, an optimal investment decision can only be made by taking taxes into account.

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