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Distributive Justice and Tax Avoidance in Emerging Economies: A Rawlsian Analysis of Multinational Structures, Professional Complicity and Legal Reform
Cullen, J.
Cullen, J.
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2026-03-01
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(c) 2026 The Authors. This is an Open Access publication distributed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/)
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Abstract
This paper examines how multinational enterprises minimise tax liabilities in emerging economies through lawful but engineered cross border structures. Using Rawlsian distributive justice, it assesses whether international tax rules and court responses protect the least advantaged by preventing tax base erosion that reduces funding for essential public services. It also examines how professional intermediaries enable complexity and shape the legitimacy of the international tax order. Doctrinal analysis of judgments from India, Nigeria, Ghana and South Africa is combined with socio legal critique. The cases are mapped to four Rawls grounded assumptions on fairness, fragmentation, transparency and accountability. The cases show repeatable avoidance mechanisms. Judicial reasoning shaped outcomes because purposive interpretation protected the tax base, whereas formalism accepted legal form and allowed base erosion that fails a Rawlsian fairness test. Policy makers should adopt substance based anti-avoidance rules and enforce adviser duties, with promoter disclosure, sanctions, and mutual assistance. The study links Rawlsian justice to comparative case law and proposes UN reforms that target professional enablers of tax avoidance.
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Adams K and Cullen J (2026) Distributive Justice and Tax Avoidance in Emerging Economies: A Rawlsian Analysis of Multinational Structures, Professional Complicity and Legal Reform. Critical Perspectives on International Business.
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