This Fall at McGill: Colloquium on Tax Philosophy

I am pleased to announce that the annual McGill tax policy colloquium is now being generously supported by the law firm Spiegel Sohmer, Inc., under a grant established for the purpose of fostering an academic community in which learning and scholarship may flourish.

This fall, in its inaugural instalment, the Spiegel Sohmer Tax Policy Colloquium will return to tax policy fundamentals by critically examining the goals of taxation from a law and philosophy perspective.

The Colloquium will therefore be convened jointly by myself and Daniel Weinstock, who is the James McGill Professor in the Faculty of Law and Director of the McGill Institute for Health and Social Policy.  His research explores the governance of certain types of liberal democracies, and the effects of religious and cultural diversity from an ethical perspective on the political and ethical philosophy of public policy.

Each talk takes place in the Seminar Room, Institute for Health and Social Policy, 1130 Pine Ave, from 14:35 to 17:35.  These events are free and open to everyone. We welcome students, faculty and the general public to attend. Here is the line-up:

Monday, October 6: Wayne Norman, Mike and Ruth Mackowski Professor of Ethics, Kenan Institute for Ethics and Department of Philosophy, Duke University. His work focuses on business ethics and his published work includes numerous books and journal articles, as well as contributions to “Ethics for Adversaries: How to Play Fair When You’re Playing to Win.”

Monday, October 20: Joseph Heath, Professor in the Department of Philosophy and the School of Public Policy and Governance at the University of Toronto; Director of the University of Toronto Centre for Ethics. He has published work very widely including the recent book "Enlightenment 2.0: Restoring Sanity to Our Politics, Our Economy, and Our Lives."

Monday, October 27: Patrick Turmel, Professor in the Department of Philosophy, Laval University. His work focuses on ethics and political institutions, particularly cities. His publications include co-authorship of a book titled “La Juste Part: Repenser les Inégalités, la Richesse et la Fabrication des Grille-Pains.”

Monday, November 11: Martin O’Neill, Senior Lecturer in Moral and Political Philosophy, Department of Politics, University of York, U.K. His research examines global and intergenerational justice. Among his many publications, Professor O’Neill’s most recent book is “Property-Owning Democracy: Rawls and Beyond.”

Monday, November 17: Peter Dietsch, Professor, Department of Philosophy, Université de Montréal. He works on questions of distributive justice with particular emphasis on the application of philosophical theories through social instruments including the tax system. His work is widely published, including a recent article titled “Tax Competition and Global Background Justice” in The Journal of Political Philosophy. He is also working on a book on tax competition entitled “Catching Capital”.

I am looking forward to hearing what these pre-eminent philosophers can tell us about the state of contemporary tax policy theory. Over the course of the semester it is my hope that we can develop a framework for thinking about tax policy that responds to the world in which we find ourselves today, with all of its promises and challenges for democracy, economy, and identity.