Giorgia Maffini is a Research Fellow at the Oxford University Centre for Business Taxation at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford. Her areas of expertise include public finance, taxation and business taxation.

Giorgia’s current research on the territoriality and competitiveness of multinational companies uses firm-level accounting data to compare the tax burden of companies headquartered in countries with worldwide jurisdictions (such as the US or UK) with that of companies headquartered in territorial countries. This work employs a novel methodology to measure the tax burden of corporate entities: the marginal effective tax rate (METR) and marginal effective tax base (METB). Results suggest that a higher METR for entities headquartered in worldwide jurisdictions is explained by higher corporate statutory tax rates, rather than by the difference in the taxation of foreign profits. Giorgia’s research also explores the potential vulnerability of territorial jurisdictions to tax avoidance, suggesting that offshore low-tax operations reduce the METR and the METB of multinationals more in territorial systems than in worldwide systems. The paper sheds some light on the recent decision of the UK to move to a territorial system and on the current debate on whether the US should move to a territorial system of taxation of foreign profits.

Another of Giorgia’s current research projects with high policy relevance explores the factors determining corporate tax payments in developing countries. This research suggests that between 1999-2008, large firms across 65 developing countries faced higher tax rates than smaller firms. Significantly, Giorgia’s research also suggests that public sector corruption in the developing countries studied is correlated with a lower tax bill at the corporate level.

Giorgia has been a Research Fellow at the Oxford University Centre for Business Taxation since 2006. Since May 2010, she has also been a visiting Lecturer at the Department of Policy Analysis and Public Management, Bocconi University, Italy, where she teaches Business Law and Public Finance. Previously Giorgia was an Economist at the Centre for Tax Policy and Administration (CTPA) of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris (2004-2005); a Research Assistant at the Department of Economics of the University of Warwick (2003-2004) and at the Institute of Political Economy, Bocconi University, Italy (2001-2002).

Giorgia holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Warwick; a PhD in Public Finance from the University of Pavia, Italy; a Masters in Economics from University College of London; and an undergraduate degree in Economics and Social Sciences from Bocconi University, Milan, Italy (summa cum laude).

Giorgia’s research has been published in leading academic journals, policy papers, and book chapters. She has received media coverage from The New York Times, The Guardian, Business Week, Les Echos and Il Sole 24 Ore. She has been a peer reviewer for the Economic Journal, International Tax and Public Finance, the Journal of Comparative Economics, the Journal of Public Economics, and Labour Economics. She is a member of the International Institute of Public Finance (IIPF).

• Business Taxation
• Tax Incidence
• Tax Avoidance
• Taxation in developing countries
• Public Finance
• Taxation

Giorgia conducts research on public finance and business taxation.

Business taxation, tax incidence and avoidance
Territoriality, Worldwide Principle, and Competitiveness of Multinationals:  Firm-level Analysis of Tax Burdens

Using consolidated firm-level accounting data for about 3,400 companies in 15 OECD countries covering 2003-2007, Maffini compares the tax burden of companies headquartered in worldwide countries with that of companies headquartered in territorial countries. The tax burden is measured by a marginal effective tax rate (METR) and, employing a new methodology, by a marginal effective tax base (METB) which controls for statutory corporate tax rates. A higher METR for entities headquartered in worldwide jurisdictions is explained by higher corporate statutory tax rates rather than by the difference in the taxation of foreign profits. The METB of companies headquartered in worldwide countries is not statistically different from that of companies headquartered in territorial countries. Using corporate presence in tax havens, the paper also investigates the vulnerability of territorial jurisdictions to tax avoidance. The results show that offshore low-tax operations reduce the METR and the METB of multinationals more in territorial systems than in worldwide systems.

Related publications
Maffini, G., Territoriality, Worldwide Principle, and Competitiveness of Multinationals: A Firm-level Analysis of Tax Burdens, working paper, 12/10

Taxation in Developing Countries
This research explores the factors determining corporate tax payments in developing countries. Using rich accounting and ownership data on approximately 183,000 firms in 65 developing countries for 1999-2008, we find that large firms face higher marginal and average effective tax rates than smaller firms. Being affiliated to a multinational group in turn does not play a significant role in determining effective tax payments. The results also suggest that public sector corruption exerts a negative impact on observed effective tax rates.

Related publications:

Journal articles
“The Indirect Incidence of Corporate Income Tax on Wages" with W. Arulampalam and M.P. Devereux, European Economic Review, 56(6), 1038-1054, 2012

“Profit-shifting and Measured Productivity of Multinational Firms" with S. Mokkas, Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 73(1), 1-20, 2011

“Encouraging Savings through Tax-Preferred Accounts", OECD Tax Policy Studies, n.15, vol. 2007, no. 2, 2007

Book chapters
“Do Corruption and Taxation Affect Corporate Investment in Developing Countries?”, in CESifo Conference Volume, Critical Issues in Taxation and Development, ed. by C. Fuest and G.R. Zodrow. The MIT Press, forthcoming, 2013

“Corporate Tax Systems and Policies for Attracting FDI" with A. Marenzi, in Tax Systems and Tax Reforms in Latin America, ed. by L. Bernardi, A. Barreix, A. Marenzi and P. Profeta, foreword by Vito Tanzi. Routledge International Studies in Money and Banking, October 2007

“Chapter 6: Germany", in Tax Systems and Tax Reforms in Europe, ed. by L.Bernardi and P.Profeta. Forword by Vito Tanzi. Routledge Studies in Modern Economy, 42, November 2003

Policy papers

“Corporate Income Tax in times of crisis: UK v Italy" with K. Bilicka and M.P. Devereux, OUCBT Briefing Note, 21 March 2012

“Taxing Banks: the IMF proposals" with M.P. Devereux and C. Fuest, OUCBT Briefing Note, 21 April 2010.  Press coverage: Business Week, The Independent, Accountancy Age, Daily Express, Accounting Web

“The G20 and New Bank Taxes" with M.P. Devereux and C. Fuest, OUCBT Briefing Note, 20 April 2010

“Großitanniens Budgetdefizit: Warum ist es Höher als in Anderen Ländern? (UK Budget
Deficit: Why is it Larger than in Other Countries)", with M.P. Devereux and C. Fuest, Ökonomenstimme, 22 March 2010 (in German)

“Public Sector Finances and the Crisis" with M.P. Devereux and C. Fuest, The Tax Journal, 25 January 2010

“Public Sector Finances and the Crisis" with M.P. Devereux and C. Fuest, OUCBT Policy Article 09/11, December 2009. Press coverage: The Times, The Guardian

“Tax havens play limited role in a financial crisis", with G. Loomer, MINT (Indian business newspaper co-founded by Wall Street Journal and Hindustan Times Group), 7 October 2009

“Paradisi in tempesta (Havens in a storm)" with G. Loomer, NelMerito.com, 17 July 2009 (in Italian)

“Havens in a Storm", with G. Loomer, Business at Oxford, 4 June 2009

“Deutschland ist der solideste Schuldner der Welt (Germany is the soundest borrower in the world)" with C. Fuest, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 18 December 2008 (in German)

“Chi Paga Realmente L'IRES? Ancora Brutte Notizie per i Lavoratori Dipendenti (Who finally pays the corporation income tax? Bad news for the employees)", NelMerito.com, 29 April 2008 (in Italian)

Giorgia is currently a visiting lecturer at the Department of Policy Analysis and Public Management at Bocconi University, Milan, Italy, where she teaches Business Law and Public Finance.

Giorgia Maffini has considerable experience of policy involvement and dialogue, both through her work at the OECD where she has worked as an Economist at the Centre for Tax Policy and Analysis, and through recognition of the high policy relevance of her research. Her research has been consulted and cited by policy makers across the world, including the European Commission, International Monetary Fund, the OECD, the Australian Department of the Treasury study on options for reforms (2009 and 2010); the study of the Commission on the Canadian system of international taxation (2008); the report of the Irish Commission on Taxation (2009); and various studies of the Office of Tax Policy (OTP) of the U.S. Department of the Treasury. 

Giorgia’s research has received widespread media coverage. Her forthcoming paper in European Economic Review, “The Direct Incidence of Corporate Income Tax on Wages” (co-authored with Wiji Arulampalam and Michael Devereux) has been widely cited in the policy domain and in the media, most notably in the New York Times by N. Gregory Mankiw, a leading economist and Professor of Economics at Harvard University.

Giorgia has recently provided expert comment on the 2012 UK budget announcement in Il Sole 24 Ore and in Les Echos, the leading Italian and French business newspapers. Her 2010 policy paper on IMF approaches to the taxation of banks received high-profile media coverage in Business Week, The Independent, Accountancy Age, Daily Express, and Accounting Web. Her 2009 policy paper “Public Sector Finances and the Crisis" was cited in The Times, and The Guardian.