Remembering the Russell Tribunal

Fifty years have passed since the International War Crimes Tribunal for Vietnam was convened by the philosopher and anti-war activist Bertrand Russell. Its goal was to investigate US crimes in Vietnam - not to punish individual perpetrators but to inform public opinion and arouse opposition to the war in ‘the smug streets of Europe and the complacent cities of North America’

50 years after Russell : an interview with Tariq Ali

You arrived in Britain from Pakistan in 1963 to study at Oxford and quickly became a central figure in the British anti-war movement. It was a letter to the Observer, though, in 1965, taking the paper to task for its support of US policy in Vietnam, which I believe first drew the attention of Bertrand Russell. He wrote to you congratulating you on your missive

VAT in Africa

About the publication From an inauspicious start in the second half of the 20th century, the value added tax is now, just over five decades later, a key component of the revenue base in jurisdictions around the globe. A tax on final consumption is seen to be an important element of sound public finance policy and the VAT has clearly emerged as the preferred model for consumption taxation. Its rate of take up in Africa is not dissimilar from that in other jurisdictions, but African experience is proving unique in some respects. One of these is the signifi cant variation of VAT legislation in Africa, refl ecting the extent to which jurisdictions, sometimes neighbouring countries, have turned to fundamentally diff erent models as the basis for their own VAT laws. Another special characteristic of African VAT is the extent to which implementation of the VAT has exposed the need for broader institutional reform and modernisation of revenue administrations. And finally, authorities have found that VAT poses unique challenges in African economies in which commercial arrangements range from traditional economies through to globalised and electronic transactions in the same marketplace. Much younger than the VAT, the African Tax Institute also enjoyed a modest start, commencing its program of providing training to African tax administrators in 2002 as the Southern African Tax Institute, as it was then known. It has accomplished much in a short time. To date more than 600 government tax offi cials from 21 African countries have benefi ted from one or more training modules or workshops off ered by ATI and its predecessor body. In addition to its formal training program, ATI is committed to developing opportunities for African administrators to access African and international expertise through specialised conferences and seminars and to make the proceedings of these forums available to wider audiences. A number of the papers in this volume, the inaugural book sponsored by the institute, derive from a VAT in Africa conference sponsored and hosted by the ATI, with support from the Taxation Law and Policy Research. About the editor: Richard Krever is a professor in the Department of Business Law and Taxation, Monash University, Caulfield.PublishedAbout the publication From an inauspicious start in the second half of the 20th century, the value added tax is now, just over five decades later, a key component of the revenue base in jurisdictions around the globe. A tax on final consumption is seen to be an important element of sound public finance policy and the VAT has clearly emerged as the preferred model for consumption taxation. Its rate of take up in Africa is not dissimilar from that in other jurisdictions, but African experience is proving unique in some respects. One of these is the signifi cant variation of VAT legislation in Africa, refl ecting the extent to which jurisdictions, sometimes neighbouring countries, have turned to fundamentally diff erent models as the basis for their own VAT laws. Another special characteristic of African VAT is the extent to which implementation of the VAT has exposed the need for broader institutional reform and modernisation of revenue administrations. And finally, authorities have found that VAT poses unique challenges in African economies in which commercial arrangements range from traditional economies through to globalised and electronic transactions in the same marketplace. Much younger than the VAT, the African Tax Institute also enjoyed a modest start, commencing its program of providing training to African tax administrators in 2002 as the Southern African Tax Institute, as it was then known. It has accomplished much in a short time. To date more than 600 government tax offi cials from 21 African countries have benefi ted from one or more training modules or workshops off ered by ATI and its predecessor body. In addition to its formal training program, ATI is committed to developing opportunities for African administrators to access African and international expertise through specialised conferences and seminars and to make the proceedings of these forums available to wider audiences. A number of the papers in this volume, the inaugural book sponsored by the institute, derive from a VAT in Africa conference sponsored and hosted by the ATI, with support from the Taxation Law and Policy Research. About the editor: Richard Krever is a professor in the Department of Business Law and Taxation, Monash University, Caulfield

Choosing between the UN and OECD Tax Policy Models: An African case study

Almost all the world's tax treaties are based on precedents found in an OECD model tax convention or a UN model tax convention. Both model divide taxing rights on cross-border investment and business activities. The OECD model shifts taxing rights to capital exporting treaty partners while the UN treaty allows capital importing countries to retain more taxing rights. This paper examines the use of OECD and UN precedents in the tax treaties of a group of 11 East African countries. It is difficult to see a link between reduced taxation by the capital importing countries and increased foreign investment. While there are variations within the group, as a group the African countries may have conceded more taxing rights to capital exporting nations than counterparts in Asia

Choosing between the UN and OECD Tax Policy Models: An African Case Study

This paper reports on a study of the tax treaty policy of a group of eleven East African countries. African tax treaties tend to follow one of two model treaties, an OECD model treaty that favours the interests of capital exporting nations and a United Nations model treaty that allows capital importing countries to retain more taxing rights. The study compares the policy outcomes in treaties signed by these countries with African nations, with relatively wealthy OECD countries, and with non-African countries that are not members of the OECD. It also compares selected outcomes in African-OECD treaties with those results in treaties between a group of Asian countries and OECD members to see whether African countries have been more or less successful at wringing preferences from wealthier nations. The study suggests the African countries studied have not been as successful in retaining taxing rights in treaties with OECD countries as have Asian countries. On the other hand, OECD countries are often more generous to African countries than are other African countries. (authors' abstract)Series: WU International Taxation Research Paper Serie

The prioritisation of rule of law support from a peacebuilding perspective

Armed conflicts are increasingly interpreted as products of the breakdown of the rule of law. In turn, weak rule of law institutions are understood as a major challenge to early post-conflict reconstruction and long-term conflict prevention. Considered essential for the maintenance of peaceful social relations, rule of law reform has thus become a priority in peacebuilding activities in the periphery. Yet enforcing a liberal legal framework in war-torn countries has had mixed success at best, with reforms encountering severe diffculties in gaining the necessary legitimacy within disrupted communities to function authoritatively. This report explores the process of the prioritisation of the rule of law, presenting the assumptions that favour its application and the typical reforms implemented in the context of peacebuilding initiatives. In addition to discussing the current challenges to the modus operandi of external interventions, it makes concrete proposals for potential improvements

The United Kingdom has Spoken: The Receding Impact of European Jurisprudence on the UK Interpretation of the Common VAT System

Post-Brexit, UK law conforming to Directives of the European Union such as the value added tax (VAT) Directive will remain in effect and UK courts will be permitted to consider decisions of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) when interpreting that law. How UK common law courts, steeped in the tradition of the doctrine of precedent, will use CJEU judgments in the post-Brexit era has been the subject of much speculation. This article considers the question in the context of a case study, looking at the application by UK courts of CJEU decisions in an important area of VAT law, the treatment of customer loyalty plan benefits. The evidence suggests that, even prior to Brexit, UK courts had started to pursue a separate path, declining to follow CJEU precedents that yielded clearly inappropriate policy outcomes. If the results of the case study are replicated more widely in UK rulings, it can be expected that the influence of CJEU judgments may taper off where formalistic and literalist CJEU interpretations have led to outcomes inconsistent with the recognized policy intent of UK law

Social Security, Taxation Law, and Redistribution: Directions for Reform

While it is now generally accepted that some redistribution of economic power is a legitimate goal of government, there is no consensus as to the type of redistribution that should be pursued. In the absence of a clear redistributive goal, it is impossible to evaluate critically current law, or make recommendations. for change. In the first part of this article, we examine alternative models of redistribution and advocate a preferred model, namely, redistribution to promote equality of opportunity and to recognize periods of vulnerability. We then evaluate the operation of Australian social security law and taxation law in light of that objective. We conclude that, although changes made in the 1980s were positive, they were inadequate in terms of the goal we propose. Following is an analysis of the changes required if the social security and tax systems are to work together efficiently in furtherance of effective redistribution. The final part of the paper applies the analysis to the case study of retirement savings and incomes, and proposes fundamental reforms to the current tax system with respect to these questions