Tax and Human Rights

The Tax and Human Rights course examines tax issues from a human rights perspective. The course is divided into two. In the first – and main – part, the course examines in depth the issues relating to the provision of adequate protection for taxpayers as a balance to the powers given to revenue authorities in different countries. The focus is on EU/Council of Europe countries. The protections under Community law and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) will be examined in detail, but much of the analysis will be relevant to other countries too. In the second part, the course will examine a new and growing literature which argues for an increased role for human rights in setting tax policy and in combating abusive tax practices, particularly by large businesses in the context of corporate social responsibility programmes and codes as well as in relation to regulation.

The course is taught by Visiting Professor Philip Baker KC, Professor John Vella and Professor Judith Freedman