Alex Cobham

Chief Executive

Short bio

Alex Cobham is an economist and chief executive of the Tax Justice Network. He has been a researcher, focused on illicit financial flows, effective taxation for development, and inequalities, variously at Oxford University, Christian Aid, Save the Children, and the Center for Global Development, and has consulted widely, including for UNCTAD, the UN Economic Commission for Africa, the UN Economic and Social Commission for West Asia, DFID, and the World Bank. Published books include The Uncounted (Polity Press) and Estimating Illicit Financial Flows: A Critical Guide to the Data, Methodologies, and Findings, with Petr Janský (Oxford University Press, open access). His new book, What Do We Know and What Should We Do About… Tax Justice? is published by SAGE.

Author’s contribution.
The United Nations building in afternoon sunlight with country flags in the foreground
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How might today’s vote on the UN tax resolution go?

By Alex Cobham ■ 22 November 2023 ■ 4 min READ
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beyond20: A new strategic framework for the Tax Justice Network

By Alex Cobham ■ 12 May 2023 ■ 3 min READ
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Tax Justice Network letter to King Charles III – Full Text

By Alex Cobham ■ 30 April 2023 ■ 10 min READ ■ 3 comments
Nigerian delegate Hashimu Gisau Abubakar proposing UN resolution Nov22
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UN resolution for an intergovernmental tax framework: What does it mean, and what’s next?

By Alex Cobham ■ 15 December 2022 ■ 11 min READ
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Carta abierta:La OCDE no cumple los mandatos del G20

By Alex Cobham ■ 15 November 2022 ■ 11 min READ
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Lettre ouverte: L’OCDE ne remplit pas les mandats du G20

By Alex Cobham ■ 15 November 2022 ■ 10 min READ
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Open letter to G20: OECD failure to deliver on G20 mandates

By Alex Cobham ■ 15 November 2022 ■ 9 min READ
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What the BEEP? The World Bank is Doing Business again

By Alex Cobham ■ 17 March 2022 ■ 6 min READ
A man in a suit holding a UN-labelled folder.
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A draft UN tax convention: building momentum

By Alex Cobham ■ 10 March 2022 ■ 3 min READ
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‘Power concedes nothing without a demand:’ the OECD, the G77 and a UN framework convention on tax proposal

By Alex Cobham ■ 25 November 2021 ■ 2 min READ
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Pandora Papers shows transparency failure is an accountability failure

By Alex Cobham ■ 3 October 2021 ■ 4 min READ ■ 2 comments
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The past, present and future of Tax Justice Network

By Alex Cobham ■ 2 August 2021 ■ 13 min READ
Google building
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Is today a turning point against corporate tax abuse?

By Alex Cobham ■ 4 June 2021 ■ 6 min READ ■ 1 comments
President Joe Biden speaks from a podium
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$300bn in new tax revenues? Weighing the US intervention in global tax reform

By Alex Cobham ■ 8 April 2021 ■ 7 min READ
US Secretary of the Treasury Janet L. Yellen
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US Treasury Secretary Yellen confirms: It’s time to end the race to the bottom on corporate tax

By Alex Cobham ■ 7 April 2021 ■ 7 min READ ■ 1 comments
Two rows of national flags outside of a UN building
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A tide-turning moment in the global struggle for tax justice

By Alex Cobham ■ 25 February 2021 ■ 5 min READ ■ 4 comments
A galleon ship
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The UK’s #ImperialInequalities: Past, present and future

By Alex Cobham ■ 4 December 2020 ■ 7 min READ
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New report, new website, new chapter for the Tax Justice Network

By Alex Cobham ■ 20 November 2020 ■ 5 min READ ■ 1 comments
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Tax Justice Network reaction to #FinCENFiles leaks

By Alex Cobham ■ 20 September 2020 ■ 2 min READ
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Tax justice at UN75

By Alex Cobham ■ 20 September 2020 ■ 3 min READ
A jeep u-turns in the snow
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A UN Tax Convention – then a U-turn

By Alex Cobham ■ 4 September 2020 ■ 7 min READ
Two rows of national flags outside of a UN building
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UN FACTI Panel envisages major global reforms

By Alex Cobham ■ 28 July 2020 ■ 10 min READ
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A response to the European court’s bad Apple ruling

By Alex Cobham ■ 15 July 2020 ■ 4 min READ
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It’s got to be automatic: Trillions of dollars offshore revealed by Tax Justice Network policy success

By Alex Cobham ■ 3 July 2020 ■ 7 min READ
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US blows up global project to tax multinational corporations. What now?

By Alex Cobham ■ 19 June 2020 ■ 8 min READ
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Tax, reparations and ‘Plan B’ for the UK’s tax haven web

By Alex Cobham ■ 11 June 2020 ■ 6 min READ ■ 3 comments
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Investors demand OECD tax transparency

By Alex Cobham ■ 19 March 2020 ■ 9 min READ
https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8435/28423922833_41700cd89b_b.jpg
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A Pyrrhic victory for the OECD?

By Alex Cobham ■ 31 January 2020 ■ 8 min READ
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Global taxing rights: ‘The genie is out of the bottle’

By Alex Cobham ■ 12 December 2019 ■ 7 min READ
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Will the OECD tax reforms collapse? Three scenarios

By Alex Cobham ■ 4 December 2019 ■ 3 min READ ■ 1 comments
Big ben blue sky
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A historic day for unitary taxation

By Alex Cobham ■ 21 November 2019 ■ 9 min READ ■ 1 comments
A skyline image of Port-Louis, the capital of Mauritius
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#MauritiusLeaks primer: What to know about corporate tax haven Mauritius

By Alex Cobham ■ 23 July 2019 ■ 4 min READ ■ 1 comments
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Research fellow in financial secrecy, for new research grant

By Alex Cobham ■ 19 December 2018 ■ 2 min READ
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Country by country reporting for the Sustainable Development Goals

By Alex Cobham ■ 25 October 2018 ■ 4 min READ
London eye
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How the UK can raise £2.5bn from tax-avoiding multinationals today

By Alex Cobham ■ 21 October 2018 ■ 3 min READ
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UNCTAD journal highlights tax thought leadership

By Alex Cobham ■ 25 September 2018 ■ 5 min READ
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Progress on global profit shifting: no more hiding for jurisdictions that sell profit shifting at the expense of others

By Alex Cobham ■ 24 July 2018 ■ 8 min READ
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UK to introduce 5th Anti-Money Laundering Directive: eyes turn to Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories

By Alex Cobham ■ 23 July 2018 ■ 3 min READ
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Could the World Trade Organisation see a challenge to tax havenry?

By Alex Cobham ■ 4 July 2018 ■ 5 min READ
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Objetivo 2030: los flujos financieros ilícitos

By Alex Cobham ■ 27 June 2018 ■ 2 min READ
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Targeting illicit financial flows in the Sustainable Development Goals

By Alex Cobham ■ 27 June 2018 ■ 2 min READ
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TJN annual conference: Full programme and registration

By Alex Cobham ■ 11 May 2018 ■ < 1
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TJN annual conference #tjn18: Full programme and registration

By Alex Cobham ■ 11 May 2018 ■ < 1
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COFFERS tax course: Register now

By Alex Cobham ■ 10 May 2018 ■ < 1
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Making history: an end to anonymous companies in the UK’s Overseas Territories

By Alex Cobham ■ 1 May 2018 ■ 4 min READ
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The bell tolls for arm’s length pricing

By Alex Cobham ■ 20 April 2018 ■ 5 min READ
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Advance tax rulings: Publish or abolish?

By Alex Cobham ■ 2 March 2018 ■ 9 min READ ■ 1 comments
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The B-Team: Lowering the bar for tax transparency?

By Alex Cobham ■ 16 February 2018 ■ 7 min READ ■ 4 comments
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ICRICT ‘roadmap’ for taxing multinationals

By Alex Cobham ■ 7 February 2018 ■ 4 min READ
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Identifying and reducing illicit financial flows: collaborate with us!

By Alex Cobham ■ 22 January 2018 ■ 2 min READ
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Call for papers: TJN annual conference #tjn18

By Alex Cobham ■ 4 December 2017 ■ 3 min READ ■ 1 comments
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Blacklisting the EU: Paradise lost?

By Alex Cobham ■ 27 November 2017 ■ 4 min READ
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Bad week for the big four

By Alex Cobham ■ 20 November 2017 ■ 2 min READ
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Big Four accounting firms are key drivers of tax haven use, new research says

By Alex Cobham ■ 13 November 2017 ■ 4 min READ ■ 1 comments
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Tax justice, the new Washington consensus?

By Alex Cobham ■ 19 October 2017 ■ 4 min READ ■ 1 comments
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New release of global tax data

By Alex Cobham ■ 9 October 2017 ■ 6 min READ
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Beginning of the end for the arm’s length principle?

By Alex Cobham ■ 22 September 2017 ■ 2 min READ ■ 1 comments
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KPMG and the false objectivity of the ‘Big Four’

By Alex Cobham ■ 18 September 2017 ■ 4 min READ
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New UN tax handbook: Lower-income countries vs OECD BEPS

By Alex Cobham ■ 11 September 2017 ■ 2 min READ
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The Brexit tax haven threat – rescinded?

By Alex Cobham ■ 1 August 2017 ■ 3 min READ
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Launch of international research collaboration, #AltAusterity

By Alex Cobham ■ 17 July 2017 ■ 2 min READ
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EU-US tax war comes to the G20

By Alex Cobham ■ 6 July 2017 ■ 3 min READ ■ 1 comments
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Redistributive hypocrisy: The growing dominance of tax haven USA

By Alex Cobham ■ 3 July 2017 ■ 3 min READ
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Tax Justice Annual Conference 2017, 5-6 July: Final Programme

By Alex Cobham ■ 29 June 2017 ■ 4 min READ
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Empty OECD ‘tax haven’ blacklist undermines progress

By Alex Cobham ■ 28 June 2017 ■ 3 min READ
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The BVI: Responsible for worldwide tax losses of $37.5 billion a year

By Alex Cobham ■ 21 June 2017 ■ 3 min READ
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New multilateral instrument to limit damage done by tax treaties

By Alex Cobham ■ 7 June 2017 ■ 2 min READ
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Tax Justice Network warns at the UN against subversion of Sustainable Development Goals

By Alex Cobham ■ 1 June 2017 ■ 9 min READ ■ 1 comments
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Tax Justice Network annual conference, July 2017: Preliminary programme and registration

By Alex Cobham ■ 30 May 2017 ■ 4 min READ ■ 3 comments
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Campaign victory disarms big tobacco’s lobby front in developing countries

By Alex Cobham ■ 22 May 2017 ■ 5 min READ
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Developing countries’ access to CbCR: Guess who’s (not) coming to OECD dinner

By Alex Cobham ■ 5 May 2017 ■ 7 min READ
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Two days left to end financial secrecy in the UK’s Overseas Territories?

By Alex Cobham ■ 25 April 2017 ■ 2 min READ ■ 1 comments
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Open Cayman: Reputation, rhetoric and reality

By Alex Cobham ■ 12 April 2017 ■ 5 min READ
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Panama Papers: Who were the big players?

By Alex Cobham ■ 3 April 2017 ■ 6 min READ ■ 1 comments
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Call for papers (one week to go), plus studentship and job

By Alex Cobham ■ 23 March 2017 ■ 2 min READ
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Estimating tax avoidance: New findings, new questions

By Alex Cobham ■ 22 March 2017 ■ 4 min READ ■ 1 comments
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Tax justice annual conference: Call for papers and registration

By Alex Cobham ■ 27 February 2017 ■ 2 min READ
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Event: The Brexit tax haven threat, assessed

By Alex Cobham ■ 20 February 2017 ■ 2 min READ
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Find your local Fair Tax business: Launch of the Fair Tax Map

By Alex Cobham ■ 17 February 2017 ■ < 1
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Crowdsourcing request: “We are not a tax haven!”

By Alex Cobham ■ 18 November 2016 ■ < 1
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Tax Justice Network: A transition

By Alex Cobham ■ 11 November 2016 ■ 16 min READ ■ 5 comments
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Press release: Campaign to expose big tobacco’s lobby front may save millions of lives in lower-income countries

By Alex Cobham ■ 6 November 2016 ■ 7 min READ
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Creating an open CBCR database – your views please!

By Alex Cobham ■ 28 October 2016 ■ 3 min READ
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Facebook UK tax – TJN statement

By Alex Cobham ■ 9 October 2016 ■ 2 min READ ■ 1 comments
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The UK’s North Sea oil revenues: Giving it away?

By Alex Cobham ■ 25 August 2016 ■ 3 min READ
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The US Treasury just declared tax war on Europe

By Alex Cobham ■ 24 August 2016 ■ 8 min READ
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Anti-corruption summit: UK climbdown, but momentum grows

By Alex Cobham ■ 12 May 2016 ■ 3 min READ
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Event: Illicit financial flows after ‘Panamania’: Seizing the moment

By Alex Cobham ■ 26 April 2016 ■ < 1
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How the OECD had a ‘bad Panama Papers’ – and why it matters

By Alex Cobham ■ 19 April 2016 ■ 10 min READ ■ 2 comments
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Three things the heads of the World Bank and IMF got wrong about an intergovernmental tax body

By Alex Cobham ■ 15 April 2016 ■ 5 min READ
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Press release: Tax Justice Network responds to European Commission proposals for public country-by-country reporting

By Alex Cobham ■ 12 April 2016 ■ 4 min READ
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Tax haven USA, after #PanamaPapers

By Alex Cobham ■ 6 April 2016 ■ 4 min READ ■ 2 comments
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The inexorable approach of public country-by-country reporting

By Alex Cobham ■ 22 March 2016 ■ 5 min READ
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Open Data for Tax Justice: Launch! #OD4TJ

By Alex Cobham ■ 2 March 2016 ■ 2 min READ