CIOT/ATT Tax policy conference 2018 report

The report about the tax policy conference is at p.53.

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The third Tax Policy Conference held by the Centre for Tax Law (CTL) took place on Friday 20 April 2018 with the generous help of the CIOT. The variety and scope of tax research being performed within Law Faculties is broadening rapidly. Traditional doctrinal research is finding new applications in the age of BEPS and Brexit, but legal scholars are also increasingly interested in interdisciplinary engagement with specialists in related disciplines such as economics, accounting, politics, history, sociology, philosophy and anthropology. At this moment of great change, it is worth reflecting on whether what academics do is relevant to tax practice and indeed whether it needs to be. What about research that has no immediate relevance to practice but may change policies, attitudes and behaviours in the medium- to long-run? In this spirit of self- reflection, the rather tongue-in-cheek title of this conference was ‘Who cares about tax theory, and why?’ Naturally, we hoped for at least some constructive responses to this question, but were ready for and interested in more challenging prognoses a swell.

It was something of a theme of the conference, most clearly stated in David Massey’s paper ‘Fiscal tribology’, that we could achieve more by trying harder to understand the perspectives of other academic disciplines and indeed all others involved in tax work. This might require a certain patience with language, explaining ourselves clearly and seeking to understand the technical terms of others. The importance of interdisciplinary dialogue was also stressed in Adrian Sawyer’s systematic review of tax scholarship, in ‘The place of tax disciplines within academia: reflections from down under.’ The paper by Victor Baker, ‘Tax theory and the policy- making process: then and now’ reminded us that the interaction of theory and policy has a long history, and offered a textbook- quality overview of the most important milestones of the past 200 years. Paul Morton and Peter Allen provided some more contemporary ideas of how the OTS and academia might gain from an engagement.

The remaining papers presented more specific perspectives on tax theory. John D’Attoma and Lynne Oats used their respective interests in the social theories of Antonio Gramsci and Pierre Bourdieu to show how theory can inform our understanding of taxation. They also showed in a very practical way how the explanatory power of a given theory can be enhanced by comparing it with a second theory. Shu-chien Chen explained that the concept of tax neutrality could be better understood and applied by

examining the ideas underlying it. In similar vein Ross Neill weighed up the disadvantages and benefits of retroactive tax legislation in order to come to a nuanced set of conclusions about when it might tolerably be used. Last but not least, Emmanuel Voyiakis offered a thought-provoking proposal for a middle path between collectivist and individualist conceptions of taxation, in ‘Tax as rent’.

Thanks are due to the CIOT for funding the event, to Bill Dodwell for providing opening comments, to Sue O’Donnell and Kevin Keohane at Christ’s College, to Felicity Eves-Rey at the Faculty of Law, to Pete Miller for providing drinks, to Peter Harris for his ongoing leadership of the CTL and to all of the excellent discussants who provided invaluable comments onthepapers.

https://www.taxadvisermagazine.com/edition/4938