Taxing Thyssen transnationally?

Abstract This article explores the emergence of tax planning from the 20s to the 70s, focusing on the interplay between national tax policies and tax practices, corporate strategies, and international regulatory frameworks. Using well-documented examples of Thyssen and its successor companies’ tax issues, the analysis indicates how multinational firms exploited tax incentives, navigated legal grey areas, and shifted assets through holding structures to minimize tax burdens. It contributes to current research on the history of tax (avoidance) and considers the corporate level, which has been little researched to date. In view of the comparatively long period under investigation, it sheds light on the rationale behind tax avoidance – for companies and tax authorities alike. Tax avoidance was often not the primary objective but rather a by-product of decisions driven by political and economic considerations, such as securing property rights or financing international operations. It was only with the second wave of globalization in the 1970s that tax optimization increasingly became a central corporate goal. Combining micro-historical case studies with a macro-historical perspective on the development of the global tax architecture, this work illustrates how companies and states, through the dynamic of tax (dis)incentives and regulation, jointly shaped the landscape of international taxation – and of tax avoidances practices.