Speaker: Jane Frecknall-Hughes
Chair: Dr Sofia Ellina
Abstract: In tax law history, considerable attention is – rightly – devoted to evidence provided by the various official rules themselves, the processes that establish such rules and the equally official documents/data they subsequently generate, for example, statutes, committee papers, tax collection receipts, tax returns, etc. – in other words, the ‘paper’/online evidence. Much less attention has been paid, however, to tracing the impact of taxation in our daily lives, in the things we read, see, handle or otherwise come into contact with: the artefacts, ‘archaeology’, residue or legacy that taxation rules leave behind. This paper looks at some illustrative examples of this type of evidence, and then proceeds to shed light on one particular, perhaps unexpected, source of evidence, namely the novel, and in particular the detective novel, with reference to the Lord Peter Wimsey novels of Dorothy L. Sayers, written largely in the 1920s and 1930s, which contain many references to taxation.
One would expect a crime fiction writer to refer to law regarding unnatural death and property inheritance, but not necessarily to tax law. However, the Wimsey novels are liberally sprinkled with references to tax, especially income tax, which begs the question as to why this might be so. Is this because tax issues were unusually prominent or publicised in the years in which the novels were written, or because they were the result of the effect of taxation on the author, or some other reason? This paper explores the possible reasons for the many references to tax in the Wimsey novels. A contemporary novel reflects social history/circumstances at its time of writing, often deliberately (viz. the works of Charles Dickens). Tax references in the Wimsey novels therefore provide valuable and important indications of how taxation was viewed and administered, and how it affected day-to-day lives in a level of detail that other ‘archaeological’ sources (such as media outlets) may not.
Bio: Professor Jane Frecknall-Hughes is currently Professor of Revenue Law, and Professor Emerita of Accounting and Taxation, at Nottingham University Business School. She is also Professor of Accounting at The Open University, where she was previously Professor of Revenue Law and Head of the Open University Law School. After graduating from the University of Oxford with degrees in both Literae Humaniores and English Language and Literature, she became a chartered accountant and chartered tax consultant with KPMG, later joining academia. She holds a PhD (in Revenue Law and Tax Practice) and an LLM in Commercial Law, and is a Fellow of Advance HE. For a number of years, she was Chair of the Tax Research Network, now the UK’s leading tax research and teaching academic grouping. She is currently Chair of the Chartered Institute of Taxation’s Academic Committee, and serves on HM Revenue & Customs’ Guidance Strategy Forum.
Jane’s research focuses on taxation, especially from an interdisciplinary perspective, with regard not only to law, but also strategic management (with particular reference to multinational enterprises and tax planning), international business, finance, history (including legal history), ethics, financial literacy/inclusion, effects on older people, e-commerce, development of the tax profession, and sustainability. She has gained an international reputation for her work in this area, which is reflected in her publication record.
She has taught a wide range of subjects in the accounting and business law area, especially taxation, and her textbook, entitled The Theory, Principles and Management of Taxation: An Introduction, was published by Routledge.