Responsible Tax and the Developing World: Is Tax a Fundamental Human Right?

Jericho Chambers co-created – and has been working with – KPMG International on the Responsible Tax project since the summer of 2014. This week sees the launch of our first publication, exploring the relationship between Responsible Tax and the Developing World, a subject that has been understandably prominent throughout the project’s lifetime.

Daily, headlines remind us that tax remains a contentious issue, but conversations can and must go further than blame games. We see tax as effectively a compact between business, government and civil society. This is why we talk about “responsible tax for the common good”.

The global Responsible Tax conversation covers many practical issues (from BEPS to transparency, avoidance & evasion) and themes as diverse as morality, trust, equality, and what constitutes 'fair' competition and responsible business. Many of these come together in discussions on tax and the developing world.

The genesis for this publication flows from contributors to a roundtable discussion in London in April 2017, where Lord Williams of Oystermouth, former Archbishop of Canterbury, suggested a focus on “how a process of Responsible Tax contributes to a stable process of development”.

The eleven essays in this collection, curated and edited by Jericho partner Neal Lawson and Chris Morgan, Head of Global Tax Policy at KPMG, reflect the diversity and richness of the conversation – very different perspectives from very distinctive geographies.