May 2016

”The Changing Shape of Tax Avoidance” Symposium

The Journal of Tax Administration held its first symposium on Friday 6 May 2016.  The subject of the event, which took place at Friends House, 173 –177 Euston Road, London, NW1 2BJ, was “The Changing Shape of Tax Avoidance. The symposium was chaired by Lynne Oats (JOTA and the University of Exeter).

The Aim of the Symposium

The idea for a symposium about “The Changing Shape of Tax Avoidance” was sparked by the fact that the discourse taking place around tax avoidance, both in the United Kingdom and elsewhere, had undergone significant changes in recent years. Heightened media attention and public awareness had led to closer scrutiny of questions such as:

  • What is tax avoidance?
  • Who facilitates tax avoidance?
  • Who engages in tax avoidance?
  • How can tax avoidance be managed by tax authorities?

The aim of our symposium was to explore these and other questions relating to tax avoidance.

The Speakers

The team at JOTA are grateful to all the speakers who participated in this event. The first presentation of the morning session was titled “Optimal Income Tax Enforcement in the Presence of Tax Avoidance” and was delivered by Matthew Rablen (Brunel University). Maya Forstater (Independent) then investigated the question “Can Stopping ‘Tax Dodging’ by Multinational Enterprises Close the Gap in Development Finance?”.  Allison Christians (McGill University) wrapped up the morning’s proceedings by presenting a paper on the topic “Tax Avoidance in a World of Aggressive Tax States”.

Federica Bardini  (University of Padova) opened the first session of the afternoon. The subject of her paper was “The ‘Ius Commune Europeum’ on the Tax Avoidance”. She was followed by Shu-Chien Chen (University of Amsterdam), who spoke about “The Common Pattern of the ‘Tax Avoidance Concept’ in the EU and USA”.

The final session of the day featured two speakers. David Duff (University of British Columbia) presented a paper titled “Tax Avoidance – Causes, Consequences and Responses”. David Quentin (Queen Mary University of London) then explored the subject of “Tax Risk Mining and Corporate Responsibility for Human Rights”.  

The Impact of the Symposium

Three papers directly related to our symposium on “The Changing Shape of Tax Avoidance” were later published in Volume 3, No 2 of the Journal of Tax Administration: