The Panama Papers and Tax Morality

Abstract

The recent divulgence of the Panama Papers (2016) has caused an uproar for the brazen tax avoidance and evasion practices that powerful interest groups employ, even without ostensibly breaching legal frameworks, much to the detriment of fiscal outcomes, and certainly to the disregard of tax morality considerations. This discussion paper ties the Panama Papers into the literature on tax morality, as it is an important new source of both evidence and initiative for greater reflection on the principles of tax morality on a global scale, underpinned by rising inequality, lower economic optimism, intergenerational inequity, low transparency, corporate leverage and weak oversight. The paper thereby revisits several important facets in a timely manner while the tide of public opinion post-Panama favours stronger fiscal oversight of ‘the 1%,’ which allows for a more robust re-examination of the aforementioned fiscal issues.

Keywords: Panama Papers, Tax Havens, Tax Morality, Fiscal Reform, Fiscal Oversight, Governance