UN MTC Article 8: Was the Source Rule Surrender on Article 8 a Blunder? The Case Study of Pakistan

Abstract

The United Nations Model Tax Convention (UN MTC) Article 8 allocates taxing rights on international traffic to the state of effective management. Article 8 (Alternative B), however, to the extent of shipping, conditionally allows some taxing rights to source state, too. The study posits that by surrendering source rule on Article 8, UN MTC ditched developing countries. This allowed airlines and shiplines stationed in developed countries not only generate large sums of revenues by hitting developing countries’ ports but also repatriate them tax free to a sustained disadvantage to the developing countries. The costs of the source rule surrender for the developing countries were realized on account of soft outflow of hard-earned foreign exchange, foregone revenues, and stunted growth of critical communication industries. It is argued that Pakistan’s aviation and maritime industries’ decent rise through 1950s, 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, and their abject descend into chaos through 1990s, 2000s and 2010s is explainable in terms of double taxation agreements (DTAs) obtaining Article 8 it signed. The insights gleaned are generalizable to other similarly circumstanced developing nations whose aviation and maritime industries failed to keep pace with their overall development. The UN MTC’s surrender on Article 8, it is posited, promoted mass-scale injustice at inter-state level, and therefore, needs correction. UN Model Tax Convention, UN MTC Article 8, International Traffic, International Shipping, International Aviation, Reciprocal Exemption, Territoriality, Double Taxation Agreements, DTAs and Developing Countries, Tax Base Erosion