Speech
Mitchell B. Carroll Prize, Paris 2011
This year’s Mitchell B. Carroll Prize competition attracted a broad range of submissions. The works covered issues of fiscal federalism, the tax treatment of cross border charitable contributions, the relation between income tax and customs valuation, and the theory of tax codification, just to name a few. Countries represented included Brazil, Columbia, Austria, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. From this varied and impressive selection, the Jury this year has decided to award one Honorable Mention as well as the Prize itself.
The Honorable Mention goes to Jérôme Törner Monsenego of Sweden for his doctoral thesis “Taxation of foreign business income with the European internal market.” This thesis was a joint project involving Swedish and French universities and analyzes familiar cases and principles from a new and refreshing point of view.
Finally the winner of the 2011 Mitchell B. Carroll Prize is: Jennifer Farrell from the United Kingdom for her doctoral thesis “The interface of international trade law and taxation: Defining the role of the World Trade Organization in the field of international taxation.” The relation between tax and trade law is an extremely important but much neglected topic. Dr. Farrell’s work describes the historical development of international tax and trade law and the problems raised by their interaction. It deals extensively with the crucial but ill-defined question of the distinction between direct and indirect taxation and the questions raised in identifying tax subsidies for exports. In addition to dissecting the issues, Dr. Farrell presents a range of possible solutions for the coordination and clarification of the relation between the tax and trade regimes. These range from “doing nothing” to developing the WTO into a general “International Tax Organization”. The work will undoubtedly have an significant impact on the development of the law in this increasingly important area. So it is with great pleasure that the Mitchell B. Carroll Prize Jury awards the 2011 Carroll prize to – Jennifer Farrell of the United Kingdom.
Professor Hugh J. Ault
Chair of the Jury