The Tax Justice Network is a left-of-center network based in the United Kingdom that focuses on advocating for left-of-center tax-related policies and increases in corporate taxes worldwide. ¹ It also advocates for left-of-center policies on issues such as climate change including the Green New Deal, and carbon taxes, which TJN claims can be “progressive.” ²

The Tax Justice Network is primarily funded by private foundations and government entities including the Ford Foundation, the European Commission, the Adessium Foundation, the Wallace Global Fund, and the Open Society Foundations. ³

Founding

The Tax Justice Network (TJN) is a left-of-center non-profit international network based in the United Kingdom that advocates for higher corporate taxes worldwide, denouncing a supposed “race to the bottom” approach by countries competing with each other for lower-tax systems. ⁴

TJN was founded in the British Houses of Parliament in 2003 by Pat Lucas, Jean Andersson, and Frank Norman but lacked an official secretariat until 2004. Created to combat “tax havens,” the Tax Justice Network offered “novel ideas” to other entities in the hopes the ideas would be formally adopted. One idea includes Tax Inspectors Without Borders, an international program backed by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development and the United Nations Development Program. ⁵⁶

The Tax Justice Network also advocates for left-of-center policies on issues such as climate change including the Green New Deal and carbon taxes, which TJN claims can be “progressive.” ⁷

The organization also created a podcast in 2012 called The Taxcast, in which “tax justice producers” present stories on alleged tax corruption and other topics. ⁸ One such episode included interviewing Gail Bradbrook, one of the founders of Extinction Rebellion (XR), a radical environmental activist organization created in the United Kingdom in mid-2019. XR has engaged in acts of direct action aimed at bringing about its climate policy “demands,” the main demand being the elimination of the use of conventional “fossil fuels” by 2025. ⁹¹⁰

Funding

The Tax Justice Network receives revenue from sources including private foundations, government entities, research grants, NGOs, and individuals. TJN received £944,020 (approximately $1,319,739) in total revenue in 2017. According to its financial report, £928,291 (around $1,297,749) came in the form of grants. The Tax Justice Network notes that it received £532,500 (around $744,434) in 2016 and 2017 from the Ford Foundation, a private foundation that is a major force in American culture and, because of its size, has given a great deal of money to left-wing and center-left organizations since its founding. ¹¹

The Tax Justice Network also revealed that it received £655,200 (approximately $915,968) from the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation and £619,160 (around $865,585) from the European Commission for its Combating Fiscal Fraud and Empowering Regulators program. The Adessium Foundation, a grantmaking organization founded by commodities trader Gerard van Vliet that provides grants to left-leaning organizations across the world, also granted £261,000 (around $364,877) in “core funding” for TJN in 2017. ¹²

The organization’s total revenue climbed again in 2018 when it received £1,237,844 ($1,730,504) with £1,200,019 (approximately $1,677,625) in the form of grants. The Wallace Global Fund, a major private foundation that funds left-of-center “activities and movements that are global or national in scope,”¹³ pledged $40,000 for “core funding” in 2018, the Ford Foundation granted another $2,000,000 under its “Building Institutions and Networks” grant, the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation pledged another 7,500,000 Krone (approximately $912,725), and the Financial Transparency Coalition pledged $78,177 in 2018. ¹⁴

The Tax Justice Network also received another $40,000 from the Wallace Global Fund in 2019. The Open Society Foundations, a private grantmaking foundation created and funded by billionaire financier and left-wing philanthropist George Soros, also provided $180,000 for “core funding” in 2019. ¹⁵

1. “Tax Competition and the Race to the Bottom,” Tax Justice Network, January 13, 2021, https://www.taxjustice.net/topics/tax-competition-and-the-race-to-the-bottom/#:~:text=The%20idea%20that%20countries%20can,awash%20with%20mobile%20financial%20capital.
2. “The Climate Issue: Who Stands in the Way of Climate Justice? (Part 2),” Tax Justice Network, March 25, 2021, https://www.taxjustice.net/focus/who-stands-in-the-way-of-climate-justice/.
3. “Funding and Financials,” Tax Justice Network, April 16, 2021, https://www.taxjustice.net/our-funders/.
4. “Tax Competition and the Race to the Bottom,” Tax Justice Network, January 13, 2021, https://www.taxjustice.net/topics/tax-competition-and-the-race-to-the-bottom/#:~:text=The%20idea%20that%20countries%20can,awash%20with%20mobile%20financial%20capital.
5. “Our History,” Tax Justice Network, April 21, 2021, https://www.taxjustice.net/our-history/.
6. Nick Shaxson, “Tax Inspectors Without Borders – a Tax Justice Network Idea Bears Fruit,” Tax Justice Network, September 7, 2020, https://www.taxjustice.net/2019/02/27/tax-inspectors-without-borders-a-tjn-idea-bears-fruit/.
7. “The Climate Issue: Who Stands in the Way of Climate Justice? (Part 2),” Tax Justice Network, March 25, 2021, https://www.taxjustice.net/focus/who-stands-in-the-way-of-climate-justice/.
8. “The Story so Far,” The Taxcast, accessed May 9, 2021, https://www.thetaxcast.com/the-story-so-far/.
9. “Our Demands,” Extinction Rebellion UK, August 5, 2020, https://extinctionrebellion.uk/the-truth/demands/.
10. “Tax Justice Focus – Financing Climate Justice,” taxjustice.net, accessed May 9, 2021, https://www.taxjustice.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/TJF_2020_11-2_V3.pdf.
11. “Tax Justice Network – 2017 Annual Report,” taxjustice.net, accessed May 9, 2021, https://www.taxjustice.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/TJN-Annual-Accounts-2017.pdf.
12. “Tax Justice Network – 2017 Annual Report,” taxjustice.net, accessed May 9, 2021, https://www.taxjustice.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/TJN-Annual-Accounts-2017.pdf.
13. “Grants,” Wallace Global Fund (Wallace Global Fund, July 13, 2020), http://wgf.org/grants/.
14. “Tax Justice Network – 2018 Annual Report,” taxjustice.net, accessed May 9, 2021, https://www.taxjustice.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/TJN-Annual-Report-2018-Final.pdf.
15. “Funding and Financials,” Tax Justice Network, April 16, 2021, https://www.taxjustice.net/our-funders/.