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Why We Need Tax Treaties

Tax Notes

In this letter to the editor of Tax Notes, Lawrence Gibbs and Rocco Femia respond to Lee A. Sheppard's article ("Why Do We Need Tax Treaties?" Tax Notes, Nov. 19, 2012), in which Lee Sheppard and professor Reuven Avi-Yonah suggest that tax treaties are not needed. Gibbs and Femia note that tax treaties are important to removing tax obstacles to cross-border investment and trade, and therefore are important to sustaining and growing the economies of the United States and its trading partners. Tax treaties also facilitate the administration of the tax laws by tax authorities.