A False Start in International Tax Coordination: The Ghost of the UN’s Past

Event Description:

This talk unveils the missing history of the UN’s first attempt at international tax coordination through its Fiscal Commission (1946–1954). It dispels the prevailing myths surrounding the work of that body and reveals the heated struggles by developing countries and the UN Secretariat to negotiate and formulate more equitable international tax principles for application between developed and developing countries. This vital saga sheds light on the role of politics in shaping the international tax regime and offers insights into pressing debates about inclusiveness and multilateralism in international tax norm-setting.

Speaker:

Dr. Nikki Teo is author of The United Nations in Global Tax Coordination: Hidden History and Politics (CUP, 2023). She is presently a sessional lecturer and research affiliate at the University of Sydney. She is also the production editor of Australian Tax Forum, the only A* tax journal in Australia. She was previously part of the Ross Parsons Centre of Commercial, Corporate and Taxation Law, University of Sydney, and the Gilbert & Tobin Centre of Public Law at the University of New South Wales. She has helped to facilitate several aid-funded technical assistance programs for developing countries, including Myanmar, Mongolia, Vietnam, and several African countries, on international taxation and taxation of the extractive industries, and has worked in tax consultancy and financial services law.

The Tax Law and Policy Speaker Series at Allard Law is an academic, interdisciplinary forum for disseminating research on tax law and policy. In past years, the series has featured many leading scholars of tax law and policy from Canada and the rest of the world. The series is often (though not exclusively) held in conjunction with a Tax Policy seminar course offered to UBC law students. Many sessions are open to the public.