Alex Cobham 
What Do We Know and What Should We Do About Tax Justice? 

This book lays out what we know about the scale, history and impacts of tax abuse. From profit-shifting by multinational corporations to the exploitation of offshore tax havens. It sheds light on the people and organisations that enable tax abuse, and the stark social inequalities it creates.



Crucially, it also explores what we can do about it. What are the practical realities of challenging the threats of tax injustice and of holding abusers accountable? What are the policies and institutional shifts we need to see and fight for?



It is estimated that cross-border tax abuse accounts for around half a trillion dollars of lost revenue around the world each year. This is important. Alex Cobham shows us that tax is more than just business regulation or economic policy. It is a powerful tool for creating a fair and just society. It is our social superpower.




Alex Cobham is an economist and chief executive of Tax Justice Network.

The ‘What Do We Know and What Should We Do About…?′ series offers readers short, up-to-date overviews of key issues often misrepresented, simplified or misunderstood in modern society and the media. Each book is written by a leading social scientist with an established reputation in the relevant subject area. 

‘Short, sharp and compelling.’ - Alex Preston, The Observer

‘If you want to learn a lot about what matters most, in as short a time as possible, this is the series for you.’ – Danny Dorling, Halford Mackinder Professor of Geography, University of Oxford

Table of Content

Introduction

Background

What do we know about tax (in)justice?

What should we do to achieve tax justice?

Conclusion

About the author

Alex Cobham is an economist and chief executive of the Tax Justice Network.  He is also a founding member of the steering group of the Independent Commission for the Reform of International Corporate Taxation, and of the technical advisory group for the Fair Tax Mark. His work focuses on illicit financial flows, effective taxation for development, and inequality. He has been a researcher at Oxford University, Christian Aid, Save the Children, and the Center for Global Development, and has consulted widely, including for UNCTAD, the UN Economic Commission for Africa, DFID, and the World Bank. He recently published two books: The Uncounted (Polity Press), and Estimating Illicit Financial Flows: A Critical Guide to the Data, Methodologies, and Findings, with Petr Janský (Oxford University Press).