Ep.52 Dr.Leopoldo Parada - on creativity

Leopoldo Parada is an associate professor in tax law at the University of Leeds in UK. He has been recognised as one of the most promising tax policy experts worldwide.

In the podcast we discussed:

• his extravagant haircut and why he did not become a professional football player like he initially wanted to be;

• his homeland - Chile, and ‘10-cents war’ with Bolivia and Peru as a result of taxation there;

• a book One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez that changed Leopoldo’s life by inspiring to look at the creative side of life, and develop his own style of writing - to create emotions, be simple & don’t be afraid to entertain;

• Jorge Luis Borges is another book author he admires, especially his book The Aleph and Other Stories; Ficciones is widely regarded as one of Borges' greatest contributions to literature. He got a special Edgar Allan Poe Award "for distinguished contribution to the mystery genre".

• reasons for moving from private practice to academia, but he suggests to his students to go and practice;

• his brand new book (2^nd edition): “Double Non-Taxation and the Use of Hybrid Entities” - still a relevant topic, because countries don’t coordinate how they treat corporate structures and transactions for tax purposes;

• the US generally has not changed anything material because of BEPS and Pillar 2; the US won’t implement Pillar 1 either; so digital services taxes may now blossom around the world - the US companies will face many different systems now;

• how to limit trade with Russia so their missiles against Ukraine don’t get financed; banning trade would be more effective than a tax, but then it should be adopted on an EU level, not on a national level;

• helping with tax reforms in Indonesia (seems like Latvia has the same problem re. unnecessary double % limitation) and Curacao;

• double standarts in the UK and US about what a tax haven really is;

• why Pillar 2 might not be so beneficial to developing countries; more subsidies may pop up instead of tax incentives; a premise that tax incentives do not attract investments ir false;

• UN vs OECD as a self-announced fashion designer of tax systems;

• it’s cool and fashionable nowadays to talk about tax.