Towards a fair and effective tax system: Introducing our new Executive Director

By Robert Palmer
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For the last eight years public spending in the UK has been squeezed, while the government has cut taxes. The UK aspires to Scandinavian levels of public services with US American levels of taxation. The problem is not that we spend too much money, but that we raise too little.

I believe we need to do more to make the case for the positive role that tax can play in society. Now more than ever we need an organisation championing a fair tax system that will benefit everyone in the UK. That’s why I’m really excited to start as the Executive Director of Tax Justice UK (TJUK).

As the head of TJUK, I will work to build support for a fairer tax system which enables good quality public services and helps to reduce inequality. I will also campaign for a more effective tax system, focusing on loopholes and clamping down on tax avoidance and evasion.

TJUK was incubated by the Tax Justice Network and spun out as an independent organisation with its own board and strategy last year in 2017. It will build on the pioneering work of organisations like UKUncut in raising awareness of how we need to fix the UK’s approach to tax.

TJUK is one of TJN’s many sister organisations around the world (see here for a full list).

TJN’s focus will remain on providing the research and policy arguments to make the global case for tax justice, and campaigning for change. Given that the UK and its various overseas territories feature so prominently in the Financial Secrecy Index, TJN will continue to highlight the international impact of UK and its secrecy network.

When I was at Global Witness I helped to lead a global movement to challenge how the financial system facilitates corruption and I worked closely with the tax justice movement, so I’m excited to be doing so again.
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Find out more about our us by exploring this website and follow me on twitter. Tax Justice UK is on twitter too, as well as on facebook.

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