Document Type
Article
Publication Date
9-8-2025
Abstract
This essay argues that corporate profit shifting remains one of the most significant challenges for U.S. state tax systems. Multinational enterprises continue to shift billions in profits to offshore tax havens, eroding state tax bases, distorting market competition, and forcing a greater reliance on more regressive taxes. We contend that the dominant "water's-edge" combined reporting method used by most states is structurally inadequate to combat modern profit-shifting techniques, which primarily involve the manipulation of intangible assets. The recent transformation of federal tax law (from GILTI to NCTI) and the global adoption of the OECD's Pillar 2 minimum tax framework create a critical moment for states to act. Rather than ceding the field, states can and should leverage this new federal and international infrastructure to implement more robust solutions, such as worldwide combined reporting, to protect their revenue and ensure tax fairness.
Recommended Citation
David Gamage,
Profit Shifting and the States: A Short Primer, 117 Tax Notes State 655
(2025).
Available at: https://scholarship.law.missouri.edu/facpubs/1353