6th

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON TAXPAYER RIGHTS

Taxpayer Rights, Human Rights: Issues for Developing Countries

05-08 October 2021 | African Tax Institute, University of Pretoria, South Africa | Online

Welcome to the Resources page for the 6th International Conference on Taxpayer Rights.  On this page, you will find the conference agenda, speaker biographies, and presentation abstracts and slides.  We will post recordings of each session soon after the end of each days’ presentations.  If you have any questions about this or upcoming conferences, please contact us at info@taxpayer-rights.org.

Each year, the Observatory on the Protection of Taxpayer Rights, a project undertaken by the International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation, publishes a Yearbook on Taxpayer Rights.  The Yearbook contains reports from more than forty countries, covering the practical protections of taxpayer rights in those locations.  As part of the International Conference on Taxpayer Rights each spring, Professor Pasquale Pistone and Philip Baker, Q.C., share highlights of the current report.

Workshop:
The Role of
Tax Clinics & Taxpayer Ombuds
& Advocates in Protecting Taxpayer Rights

05 Oct 2021

The Role of Tax Clinics & Taxpayer Ombuds/Advocates in Protecting Taxpayer Rights

Moderator: Nina E. Olson, Executive Director, Center for Taxpayer Rights, United States

Panelists:

Elena Fowlkes, Taxpayer Advocate, District of Columbia Office of Tax and Revenue, United States

Mary Gillum, Director, Tennessee Taxpayer Project, Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee & the Cumberlands, United States

Thabo Legwaila, CEO of the Office of the Tax Ombud; Professor, University of Johannesburg, South Africa

Asha Ramgobin, Executive Director, Human Rights Development Initiative, South Africa

ICTR
Day One

Panel 1
06 Oct 2021

Taxpayer Rights as Human Rights

Moderator:  Frans Viljoen, Director, Center for Human Rights, University of Pretoria, South Africa

Panelists:

Patricia A. Brown, United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Financing for Sustainable Development Office, United States 

Judge Dennis Davis, President, Competition Appeals Court, South Africa; Chair, Davis Tax Commission

Judge Bernard Ngoepe, Office of the Tax Ombud, South Africa

Asha Ramgobin, Executive Director, Human Rights Development Initiative, South Africa

ICTR
Day One

Panel 2
06 Oct 2021

Taxation as a Means to Achieving Sustainable Development Goals in Africa & Other Developing Countries

Moderator:  Sansia Blackmore, African Tax Institute, University of Pretoria, South Africa

Panelists:

Odd-Helge Fjeldstad, Chair, Michelsen Institute, Norway; African Tax Institute, University of Pretoria, South Africa  — Slides

Johanna Mugler, Institute of Social Anthropology, Bern University, Switzerland  — Slides

Annet Oguttu, African Tax Institute & Department of Taxation, University of Pretoria, South Africa  — Slides

ICTR
Day Two

Panel 3
07 Oct 2021

Independent Administrative Appeals and the Promotion of Integrity and Fairness in the Tax System

Moderator:  Jan de Goede, International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation, The Netherlands

Panelists:

Leslie Book, Villanova Law School, United States  — Slides

Carika Fritz, School of Law, University of Witwatersrand, South Africa  — Abstract —   — Slides

George Pitsilis, Governor, Greek Independent Revenue Authority, Greece

ICTR
Day Two

Current Developments I
07 Oct 2021

IBFD Observatory on Taxpayer Rights and
Current Developments Part I

Panelists:  — Slides

Philip Baker, Q.C., Field Court Tax Chambers; Visiting Professor, Oxford University, United Kingdom

Pasquale Pistone, International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation, The Netherlands  — 2020 IBFD Yearbook on Taxpayers’ Rights

Katerina Perrou, Post-Doctoral Researcher and Lecturer in Tax Law, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens; Legal Counsel to the Governor of the IAPR, Greece.

ICTR
Day Two

Panel Four
07 Oct 2021

The Role of Legal Privilege in the Protection of Taxpayer Rights

Moderator: Philip Baker, Q.C., Field Court Tax Chambers; Visiting Professor, Oxford University, United Kingdom

Panelists:

Abdalla Ali-Nakyea, Managing Partner,  Ali-Nakyea & Associates, Ghana  — Abstract —   — Slides

Elzette Muller, Pretoria Society of Advocates, South Africa  — Slides

Chris Rizek, Caplin & Drysdale, Chartered, United States  — Slides

ICTR
Day Three

Panel Five
08 Oct 2021

Digitalization of Tax Administration and the Implications for Protection of Taxpayer and Human Rights

Moderator:  John Chakasikwa, Office of Commissioner General, Zimbabwe Revenue Authority, Zimbabwe

Panelists:

Sylvie DeRaedt, Research Manager, DigiTax Centre, University of Antwerp, Belgium  — Slides

Nimmo Osman Elmi, Linkoping University, Sweden  — Slides

Dayanard Manoli, McCourt School of Public Policy, Georgetown University, United States  — Slides

Luisa Scarcella, Post-doctoral Researcher, DigiTax Centre, University of Antwerp, Belgium  — Abstract —  — Slides

ICTR
Day Three

Current Developments II
28 May 2021

Current Developments in Caselaw in Human Rights that have Implications for Tax 

Panelists:

Kristin Hickman, University of Minnesota Law School, United States  — Slides

Asha Ramgobin, Executive Director; Human Rights Development Initiative, South Africa

ICTR
Day Three

Panel Six
08 Oct 2021

Barriers to Access to Justice and Their Impact on Achieving Sustainable Development Goals

Moderator:  David J. Bakibinga, Makerere University School of Law, Uganda

Panelists:

Susi Baerentzen, International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation, The Netherlands  — Slides

Bernadene de Clercq, University of South Africa, South Africa    — Slides

T. Keith Fogg, Harvard Law School Low Income Taxpayer Clinic, United States  — Abstract —   — Slides

Adrian Sawyer, University of Canterbury, New Zealand  — Slides