Rebalancing double tax treaties in favour of African states

This chapter, explores double tax treaties (DTTs) in Africa and whether these treaties are still a necessity for developing African states as a means of attracting investment. It builds on the argument that the existing international tax treaty regime has been one of inequality, where developed states have taxing rights and thus benefit the most from DTTs. Tax treaties are commonly designed to avoid taxing the same profit twice by determining, when and how a treaty country can or cannot tax foreign-owned companies. Both developed and developing countries have used them with the intention of improving economic development although, the evidence to support this is weak. Nevertheless, treaties still provide significant benefits, such as exchange-of-information provisions and mechanisms for resolving disputes between taxpayers and tax administrations.