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70 Emory L.J. 1659 (2020-2021)
Ten Truths about Tax Havens: Inclusion and the "Liberia" Problem

handle is hein.journals/emlj70 and id is 1698 raw text is: TEN TRUTHS ABOUT TAX HAVENS: INCLUSION AND THE LIBERIA PROBLEM Steven A. Dean* Attiya Waris** ABSTRACT There has been a decades-long effort to repair an increasingly fragile international tax system. One reason it has foundered has been what we identify as the Liberia problem. In 2000, the powerful Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development identified Liberia but not Switzerland as a tax haven and targeted it for sanctions. It did not go well. During the two decades since, everything has changed; yet seemingly from this lens of inclusion, nothing has changed at all. Awkwardly similar blacklists still target Black and Brown jurisdictions despite the fact that experts mean something quite different when they speak of the scourge of tax havens and secrecy jurisdictions. We think differently in important respects but believe that those real disagreements demonstrate the need for a less insular global tax policymaking apparatus. And we share a conviction that a more inclusive and more level playing field in the international tax arena would benefit all states. To show why, we offer a series of truths designed to prompt a long-overdue conversation about perceptions of bias and privilege in international taxation. Professor of Law at Brooklyn Law School. Acting Deputy Principal of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHSS); Director of Research and Enterprise; Professor of Fiscal Law and Policy in Eastern Africa at the University of Nairobi. Professor Waris is the only faculty member to hold the third title. This Essay was partially supported by OSIEA Project titled Training on Tax and Human Rights (TOTHR) Phase 2 at the University of Nairobi under Attiya Waris. This Essay benefited from helpful comments from I. Bennett Capers, Wei Cui, and Shu-Yi Oei and the participants in the AMT Conference and the University of British Columbia Peter A. Allard School of Law Tax Law Speakers Series and from excellent research assistance from Kalina Hannsz and Ryan Roll.

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