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Ethics and Taxation pp 165–187Cite as

Global Tax Justice: Who’s Involved?

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Abstract

This chapter deals with the question why international institutions of global tax governance will fail to produce legitimate decisions when non-state actors, including NGO’s, are not somehow involved in the decision-making processes of these institutions. It researches this question with the help of an analysis of the prescriptive legitimacy of international institutions in two competing models of global tax governance: the intergovernmental model of democratic states and the model of cosmopolitan pluralism. These models differ with regard to the relationship between the international institutions and the states (i.e. instrumental or no pre-eminence for one of both) and with regard to the role of non-state actors in the decision-making processes (whether or not there is such involvement). The normative right to rule of the institutions in both models is tested against their potential to establish truly democratic national taxing systems in the states that implement these decisions. The analysis in this chapter leads to the conclusion that the current institutional framework of the BEPS project of the OECD, but also the position defended by Dietsch and Rixen, and Dagan, cannot be regarded as a sufficiently legitimate form of global tax governance. The chapter subsequently makes clear why the only way to create a more democratic form of global tax governance is therefore to appreciate the ability of non-state actors to put external pressure on states. In this regard it sets out a roadmap for further research about this topic.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Compare, e.g., Pogge and Mehta (2016), Dietsch and Rixen (2016) and Dagan (2018).

  2. 2.

    The procedural view of Christians (rooted in social contract theory) is closely related to this perspective. See Christians (2009) and Broekhuijsen (2017), Chap. 4.

  3. 3.

    The Habermasian point of departure underlying this view is that rationality is not to be found in the thinking process of a single individual, but in a dialogue between individuals (i.e., inter-subjective rationality). See Peters (2014), Sect. 6.2 for further references.

  4. 4.

    Cf. Dietsch (2011), Dietsch and Rixen (2014), Dietsch (2015), Rixen (2016) and Rixen (2018).

  5. 5.

    “A clearly higher standard of international cooperation than anticipated by most non-cosmopolitan theories of justice.” He does maintain though that his position should be classified as an internationalist conception of global (tax) justice that differs from radical cosmopolitan and purely statist positions. See pp. 113–114.

  6. 6.

    Fraser (2008), Ronzoni (2009), MacDonald and Ronzoni (2012), Ronzoni (2012), Valentini (2012) and Forst (2014, 3–5).

  7. 7.

    Such a focus constitutes an important strand in the current thinking about ‘global tax justice’. Compare, e.g., García Antón (2016) and Stewart (2018).

  8. 8.

    These foundations are (a) the strain between social integration and system integration in our capitalist societies and (b) the need to guarantee the internal relationship between the rule of law and democracy. These ideas are explained at length in Peters (2014), Chap. 6.

  9. 9.

    Buchanan (2010, 90). See also Meyer and Sanklecha (2009).

  10. 10.

    They both stress that Dietsch and Rixen assume that there is a proper functioning democratic decision- making process in place. See Dietsch (2015, 182).

  11. 11.

    See also Benvenisti (2013, 303––304).

  12. 12.

    It is actually a complex matter to define precisely what such competitiveness actually stands for in the context of international tax policy. See Avi-Yonah and Sartori (2012).

  13. 13.

    Compare Van Brederode, Chap. 14 of this volume, who entertains the position that the OECD acts like a cartel.

  14. 14.

    Rixen (2016, 337) points at such a role for societal interest-groups when he is laying down his vision on the institutional design of the International Tax Organization.

  15. 15.

    Rixen (2016, 334) is more optimistic that states themselves will jump over their own shadows. In his view, this requires a proper institutional design of the proposed International Tax Organization. Such cooperation should be multilateral and inclusive.

  16. 16.

    Compare my conclusion in Peters (2014, 387): “The voices in civil society and the articles in the international media are an increasingly important factor to come somewhat closer to the ideal of a never-ending deliberation to resolve the continuing tension between the facts and the norms of international tax law.”

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  1. Tilburg School of Economics and Management (TiSEM), Tilburg University, Tilburg, The Netherlands

    Cees Peters

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    Robert F. van Brederode

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Peters, C. (2020). Global Tax Justice: Who’s Involved?. In: van Brederode, R. (eds) Ethics and Taxation. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-0089-3_7

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