THE JAMES HAUSMAN TAX LAW & POLICY WORKSHOP
presents
Miranda Stewart
Australian National University and the University of Melbourne
Transnational Tax Law and the Future of the Tax State
Wednesday, January 25, 2017
12:30 - 1:45
Solarium (Room FA2), Falconer Hall
84 Queen's Park
There is a growing contemporary literature about transnational law. Until recently this has not been a concept adopted in the tax law context, although there is a substantial literature on international tax law, including in bilateral and multilateral treaties and even suggested as international customary law (Avi-Yonah 2006). Tax law has been a bastion and expression of national sovereignty, funding public goods in the nation state, which developed through the 20th century in many countries as a "tax state". Recently, Genschel and Rixen (2015) proposed and analysed the strengths and limitations of a “transnational legal order” of international tax. This paper asks whether transnational tax law really exists and if so, what does it mean for the tax state? What is the authority and legitimacy of transnational tax law? Who are its legislators, subjects, agents, interpreters and enforcers in national or international spheres? The paper explores these questions through examining some case studies that range from the seemingly small scale - affecting backpackers, or students - to the recent attempts to construct a transnational legal order for multinational enterprises and global capital in the base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) project of the OECD.
Miranda Stewart has been Professor and Director of the Tax and Transfer Policy Institute, Crawford School of Public Policy, the Australian National University since 2014 and is also a Professor at the University of Melbourne Law School, which she joined in 2000 after studying and teaching at New York University School of Law. Miranda teaches and researches on a wide range of topics in taxation and budget law and policy and previously worked in government and major law firms. She has taught as a visitor at Osgoode Hall Law School and University of Florida. Miranda has published on international taxation and anti-abuse and sham in an era of globalization; income taxation of individuals and gender in tax/transfer systems; transnational tax networks and tax reform. Recent contributions include an edited special issue on a century of income tax in Australia (Australian Tax Forum, December 2015);edited books Not for Profits Law (Cambridge University Press, 2014); Sham Transactions (Oxford University Press, 2013); Tax, Law and Development (Edward Elgar, 2013). Miranda engages widely in public and government debates about tax policy and reform in Australia and internationally.
For more workshop information, please contact Nadia Gulezko at n.gulezko@utoronto.ca.
