Tax Havens and the case for Tax Justice

Abstract

Important: Tax havens are a $500B/year opportunity due to lost tax revenue. At least $5B/year is available for developing countries. In comparison, the world spends $2.7B/year on malaria control and eradication. Neglected: The tax justice movement spends $100-200M/year; comparable to the World Wildlife Fund. Tax Justice Network’s budget is under $2M/year. Tractable: In the past 20 years, the OECD has partially implemented reporting and accounting standards to monitor and disclose tax haven activities. Full implementation has investor support. Before the pandemic, a majority of the public in Canada, US, and UK strongly approved of curbing tax havens. A UN Tax Convention covering tax havens is within reach. Fit: Tax justice is a good fit for EAs concerned about inequality, comfortable with lower-quality evidence than RCTs (i.e. economic data) and interested in post-graduate studies in economics, accounting, law or international policy. Recommendation: Tax Justice Network is a highly effective charity: consider donating. Tax justice is possibly a top career choice: consider exploring. I’m particularly grateful to Hauke Hillebrandt for the inspiration, encouragement and not-too-brutal feedback. Most of the good ideas are probably his; all the mediocre ideas are definitely mine.