Rita de la Feria

Excellent podcast discussion on the most important global VAT questions, trends and challenges with Professor @delaferiar.bsky.social @cblpleeds.bsky.social

Have a listen 👇

YouTube video by Vatvocate The most important global VAT questions, trends and challenges - Rita de La Feria

New episode of a new podcast. We talked about global tax trends, challenges, opportunities, and how to prepare for the tax system of the future. All intertwined with stories, career advice, and a lot of laughter. Hope people find it useful.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gAm...

Delighted to share that from Oct 1st I'll be Visiting Professor of Law at Oxford University! I first joined Oxford in 2007. I'm immensely honoured that the @oxfordlawfac.bsky.social has now formally granted me the Visiting Prof title. As @judithfreedman.bsky.social says no-one ever leaves Oxford.

Until we acknowledge this, and start working on overcoming the political economy problem, we will continue applying VATs that are at best sub-optimal, at worst both inefficient *and* unfair. Full paper here: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

VAT is the most efficient, neutral, pro-growth, tax. Yes, it can also be regressive, but in many countries - and all developed ones - there are known ways of overcoming this. So why do so many countries apply exemptions? Not for equity reasons; but for political economy ones.

Many congratulations, Rita, on the publication of this significant and timely research 👏

#LawSky #AcademicSky #Tax #Inequalities

@cblpleeds.bsky.social @lsjleeds.bsky.social

www.ibfd.org/shop/book/ta...

It can now be purchased here:
www.ibfd.org/shop/book/ta...
With detailed data from 33 countries, I hope it can be useful not just for lawyers and policymakers, but to economists and political scientists. Onwards and upwards. #Taxation #inequality

Some big (research) news: my book on Taxation and Inequalities is out! Sometimes life comes at you fast. The book went on sale the day of my father's funeral, and I wasn't present at its formal launch in Bergen. Nevertheless, it's out there now, in all its glory.

Untaxing - 3.Jaffa Cake or Biscuit? - BBC Sounds Dan Neidle reveals the unexpected ways tax shapes our world.

Is the Jaffa Cake a cake or a biscuit? 🍰🍪

On #NationalBiscuitDay, we revisit this classic conundrum through the lens of VAT.

@delaferiar.bsky.social recently explored this question and its connection to the UK tax system on the #BBC.

Find out more 👉 tinyurl.com/5n8s5u5k

It has been a hectic month: 1 presentation at the European Parliament, 2 to (different) Finance Ministers, 1 to a PM Cabinet, an UK OBR meeting, and several media interviews.

Now, it's time to go back on the academic road, starting with Brazil next week, 2 years after my last visit. Me aguardem!

6 weeks after release. Turns out people do actually want to hear complex answers. Thanks to everyone for reading.
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

EU-Digitalsteuer: Ist die Digitalsteuer eine gute Idee? Die EU könnte sich mit einer Abgabe für Techkonzerne gegen US-Zölle wehren – und sich damit womöglich selbst schaden.

Today, on the German @zeit.de, my short comments on the spread of digital taxes. The world has fundamentally changed since 2020/2021, and the environment in which the OECD Pillars were developed no longer exists. We need to adapt.

www.zeit.de/2025/16/eu-d...

E hoje a realidade. Foi sol de pouca dura.

Vantagens comparativas e vieses comportamentais. Ontem foi o alívio.

Is this a good moment to highlight that I have been working on a paper on tax (legal) uncertainty on economic and administrative behaviour?

Não se tomam. Adiam-se e procuram-se outros mercados onde haja mais segurança jurídica.

But not because of tariffs! VAT and tariffs are fundamentally different; it's a false equivalence. Me (despite being on research leave) weighing in on the topic of our times.

My standard rule, according to which the political salience of taxes is inversely proportional to the health of a nation, is, unfortunately, holding up well.

Untaxing - 3.Jaffa Cake or Biscuit? - BBC Sounds Dan Neidle reveals the unexpected ways tax shapes our world.

On the day VAT is headline news, the prize for best quote goes to @danneidle.bsky.social:"Jaffa Cakes is the price of political cowardice" Wiser (tax) words have rarely been spoken.
I talk to Dan about how we got here, and the massive gains a VAT reform would bring.
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

BBC Radio 4 - Untaxing, 3.Jaffa Cake or Biscuit? Dan Neidle reveals the unexpected ways tax shapes our world.

I will be on BBC R4 today for @danneidle.bsky.social 's great Untaxing series, to talk about cakes and biscuits. Podcast available after airing.
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

The first episode of my new Radio 4 series, Untaxing, is 1.45pm today; then the same time every day this week. Available on BBC Sounds as soon as each episode airs.

BBC Sounds link: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

This is the napkin on which a young economist called Art Laffer doodled a curve that he said showed that tax rises would reduce tax revenue.

It's the most consequential napkin in history, inspiring a movement that led to series of tax cuts in the US, UK and across the world.

Maybe I'm being overly optimistic/naive, but I think it has fundamentally changed. For one, I don't think this type of normalisation would happen now (even if people think it they won't say it). And the public's view/tolerance has definitely changed:
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Being a tax lawyer in the 90s, the Hollywood version.

@delaferiar.bsky.social released a new book chapter on tax fairness

papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

TaxProf Blog: The Top Five New Tax Papers There is a bit of movement in this week's list of the Top 5 Recent Tax Paper Downloads, with new papers debuting on the list at #1 and #4. [986 Downloads] Tax Fairness: Reconceptualising Taxation and ...

"Taxation and Inequalities" takes top spot. A labour of love, over several years - weekends and holidays - but at least everyone is reading it. Thank you.
taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog...

These will be rare public appearances, during this year of research leave and self-imposed closure to write. Very pleased that I will be able to share it with dear friends, like Vanessa Rahal Canado. The events on 14/20 are closed-door, all others are public. See you there, tax nerds.

Big news! Block your agendas: delighted to announce that I will be in Brazil in May, for a massive tax tour, at the invitation of the incomparable
@rodrigomaiarj.bsky.social. Focus will be primarily on results of the Taxation of Inequalities project, with a small incursion into excise taxes.

Ep.70 Rita de la Feria - On Movies And Fairness Tax Stories: Life, Business & Tax · Episode

Or if you couldn't be bothered reading 88 pages, you can listen to a discussion of the main results in this podcast:
open.spotify.com/episode/5yE7...
The book with be out in June.

The final draft of my (large) report on the Taxation and Inequalities project has now been posted, free to download, on SSRN. A new analytical framework, based on data from 33 countries, covering all areas of the tax system, from wealth to environmental taxes.
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....