Governments and international organizations are seeking new initiatives to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). One area where these initiatives have clearly emerged is in the field of taxation since a well-designed domestic (national) tax system can contribute to promote investment and to protect their revenue base. It is through their own tax revenues that developing countries themselves can generate the funding they need to achieve the SDGs. 

Tax can contribute to alleviating poverty by increasing the competitiveness of the country vis-a-vis other countries in the region and to tackle global inequality by contributing to transfer of knowledge in different sectors of the economy. As a consequence, policy makers in international organizations, domestic lawmakers, tax administrations, and business are required to understand the role of taxation to build a sustainable and fair society, as well as the choices made by countries when designing their domestic (national) tax system.

This course starts with a contextualization of the relationship between tax and society by explaining the linkage of taxes to different SDGs. Thereafter the use of the theory of legal transplant in tax law will be presented. Thereafter, the use of the standard of fairness in taxation will be addressed. Finally, and in light of the theoretical background provided above, we will investigate the impact of the current developments in international tax law taking into account the differences between developing and developed countries. For this purpose, we will use three cases studies: aggressive tax planning mainly treaty shopping, taxation of highly digitalized business and introduction of a minimum tax. In these case studies, we will address the different proposals made by international organizations regional tax organizations, think tanks and civil society, countries and academics on how to address these issues. 

The course has the following learning objectives: - 

• Understanding the basic ideas on taxation and linkage of taxes to different SDGs
• Understanding how tax and fiscal policies can be leveraged by the governments to achieve the SDGs.
• Understanding the influence of the standard of fairness in the current international tax law developments
• Understanding the different proposals made by organizations, civil society, think tanks, and academics to deal with current international tax issues.

> 70% attendance requirement

Interactive lectures. Students are expected to familiarise themselves with course materials and participate in the lectures and discussions. Additionally, to facilitate active participation, the students will write and submit a literature review, as well as providing a presentation. For the literature review and presentations, students can participate in group of 2-3 students to facilitate exchange of ideas.

The assessment will be assessed as follows: 10% literature review assignment, 10% class presentation and  80% exam.

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• 1. When writing a seminar paper, the introduction must contain a declaration of the use of AI. If no form of AI was used, a note to this effect is sufficient. If AI was used, the introduction must explain accordingly where and in what form.
  2. For seminar papers, increased attention will be paid to:
• Whether the processed legal status is up-to-date
• Correct/existent citations
• Correct use of abbreviations
• Comprehension
• Errors in the outline