TAXATION OF CORPORATION INCOME AND FINANCIAL ASSETS

The course is dedicated to the analysis of company taxation and income taxation from financial activities. Particular attention is paid to the new challenges for national tax systems that emerge in the presence of highly integrated economies, with high mobility of capital income.
With reference to company taxation, problems relating to the determination of the tax base and the effects of taxes on the cost of capital and the financial structure of companies are highlighted.
With reference to financial activities, the course provides an in-depth knowledge of the taxation of financial activities. Particular attention will be paid to national and international proposals for taxing financial transactions (Tobin Tax, FTT, ITF in Italy).

1. Knowledge and comprehension skills:
1.1. understanding problems and challenges in the design of tax systems in modern market economies;
1.2. understanding the effects of taxation on the choices of taxpayers and enterprises;
1.3. understanding the techniques and the economic effects of taxes on corporations' investment choices and on financial investment;

2. Applied knowledge and comprehension skills:
2.1. using statistical indicators at national and international level to evaluate the characteristics of tax systems;
2.2. determining the corporations' convenience to finance themselves with various instruments in the presence of corporate taxes, with particular reference to the integration with taxes on personal income of shareholders;
2.3. determining the tax wedge on financial investments

3. Use of independent judgment:
3.1. to critically interpret the choices of the tax legislator;
3.2. to understand the impact of tax systems and individual taxes on the economic choices of companies;
3.3. to consider economic issues through analytical methods.

The course requires the knowledge of the topics covered in a course of Public finance at a three-year degree programme level.

1. The design of tax systems
1.1 Theoretical principles for the design of tax systems
1.2 Tax systems in practice
2. Taxation of companies
2.1 Theoretical principles: ability to pay, benefit principle
2.2 The choice of the tax base
2.3 Tax treatment of profits
2.4 Taxation and economic choices
2.5 The Italian system
2. Taxation of financial income
2.1 Microeconomic analysis of savings choices
2.2. Effects of taxation on f savings
2.2. Taxation of financial incomes in Italy and in the international framework
2.3. Analysis of the main documents and proposals on the taxation of financial transactions (Tobin Tax, FTT, ITF)

- Panteghini, P. (2021) La tassazione delle società, Quarta Edizione, il Mulino, Bologna
- Tax by Design, the final report from the Mirrlees Review, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011 (https://www.ifs.org.uk/publications/5353 )
- European Commission Directorate General for Taxation and Customs Union and Directorate General for Economic and Financial Affairs (2015) «Tax Reforms in EU Member States: 2015 Report», Taxation Paper 58-2015.
Readings and handouts will be available online in the Moodle website.

The exam consists of a written test, which aims to verify the learning of the concepts and the ability to apply them to concrete cases. There is no oral exam.
- Duration of the written exam: 1h
- Each answer is worth a variable number of points depending on the question.
- The final grade of the task is given by the sum of the points obtained in the answers.
- The exam is passed if the sum is at least 18.
- If the sum of the points exceeds 30 the "lode" will be awarded.

Questions can be:
- theoretical
- analytical exercises
- numerical exercises
- multiple choice questions
- charts, tables and fiscal indicators to be commented.

written

The course is organized in:
a) lectures,
b) exercises, with Active Learning sessions guided by the teacher during the course.
c) individual study.
Students are encouraged to attend classes in an active way, reading the chapters of the book before coming to class and doing the exercises (available on the Moodle platform).

Italian

Further information will be available on Moodle website.