ISS and ICTD Annual Lecture, Cape Town: Is the International Tax System Fit for Purpose - Especially for Developing Countries?

Date: 2012-12-12

Venue: , Institute for Security Studies, Cape Town , 2nd Floor, The Armoury Building , Buchanan Square , 160 Sir Lowry Road , Woodstock, Cape Town

RSVP:
Ms Yolanda Vamusse
Tel: +27 21 461 7211
E-mail: [email protected]

The Institute for Security Studies and the International Centre for Tax and Development presents the annual lecture:

Is the International Tax System Fit for Purpose - Especially for Developing Countries? 

Evidence is mounting that the international tax system is dysfunctional and needs a radical overhaul.

Large transnational corporations (TNCs) have been shown to be paying little or no taxes in countries where they have been doing substantial business.

The rules applicable to TNCs give them opportunities and incentives for extensive tax avoidance. This results in large tax losses for all countries and allows these companies to out-compete local firms. At the same time, the rules are complex and contradictory, making them hard to comply with and very difficult to administer. These practices have had harmful effects on developing countries, particularly mineral-rich African states where TNCs have large investments in the natural resources sector.

In the light of increasing concerns about the unequal distribution of wealth from natural resource investments in Africa, the International Centre for Tax and Development (ICTD) in partnership with the Institute for Security Studies invites you to the Annual ICTD Lecture, which discusses the challenges arising from the international tax system and their implications for countries in Africa.

The lecture addresses key issues that are relevant to the current policy debates in South Africa, in particular the role of taxation in achieving pro-poor economic growth.

The lecture will be presented by Sol Picciotto, Emeritus Professor at the University of Lancaster, United Kingdom. Picciotto will discuss new approaches to international tax that reflect the economic reality and make it easier to tackle the laundering of the proceeds of corruption and crime.

Sol Picciotto has extensive experience in international law and taxation, with specific focus on capital flight, tax evasion and business taxation. He recently published a book titled Regulating Global Corporate Capitalism.

ISS Rule: Participants are free to use the information presented, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s), nor that of any other participants, may be revealed without his/her express permission.