Tax Justice and Tax Law: Understanding Unfairness in Tax Systems

Description

Most people would agree that tax systems ought to be 'just', and perhaps a great deal more just than they are at present. What is more difficult is to agree on what tax justice is. This book considers a range of different approaches to, and ideas about the nature of tax justice and covers areas such as: - imbalances in international tax arrangements that deprive developing countries of revenues from natural resources and allow wealthy taxpayers to use tax havens; - protests against governments and large business; - attempts to influence policy through more technical means such as the OECD's Base Erosion and Profits Shifting project; - interpersonal matters, such as the ways in which tax systems disadvantage women and minorities; - the application of wider philosophical or economic theories to tax systems. The purpose of the book is not to iron out these underlying differences into a grand theory, but rather to gain a more precise understanding of how and why we disagree about tax justice. In doing so the editors are assisted by a stellar cast of contributors from four continents, with a wide variety of views and experiences but a common interest in this central question of how to agree and disagree about tax justice. This is, of course, not only an intellectual exercise but also a necessary precursor to achieving real-world change.

Dominic de Cogan is Senior Lecturer in Tax Law and Peter Harris is Professor of Tax Law, both at the University of Cambridge.

The book will bring us several steps further to achieve a better tax world. I hope many scholars and policy makers will incorporate the various ideas in the book! -- Peter Hongler, University of St Gallen * Intertax * There are several features of this book that make it useful for tax administration scholars and practitioners who are interested in tax justice and how tax administration, as an integral part of tax systems, can contribute to its fairness. -- Nigar Hashimzade, Brunel University London * Journal of Tax Administration * There is an optimism one gets from reading the chapters in this well-balanced, scholarly book. This book stands now as a testimony to the fact that there is far more that we have in common than that which divides us ... the chapters of the book underscore our commonality. -- Stephen Daly, King's College London * British Tax Review * This book considers various perspectives on tax justice contributed by an impressive number of experts - 20 in total, including both established and rising scholars ... Subjects covered broadly include imbalances in international tax arrangements, the taxation of large companies, procedural justice, the tax biases against women and minorities, and the application of broader philosophical and economic approaches to tax justice ... This book is a welcome addition to the literature. In his introduction, Dominic de Cogan writes that "the strength of this volume . . . is its sheer diversity" (p 2). This remark summarises the greatest value of the book -- Chike Emedosi, University of Aberdeen * The Edinburgh Law Review *