AEC on Taxation: The Silent Skirmishes between Friends

Promoting further regional cooperation within the Southeast Asian region, members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (“ASEAN”)[1] have envisioned trade liberalization and economic integration in the Southeast Asian region under the ASEAN Economic Community (“AEC”).[2]

While the AEC provides a considerably comprehensive framework for transforming ASEAN into a single market and production base, the AEC Blueprint[3] remains relatively silent on issues related to taxation. This is to be expected given the special nature of taxation and it relationship to state sovereignty.