Tax Reports Published by Law School

The Law School, in cooperation with the United Nations, will begin publication today of a series of tax reports on 30 nations. The first two volumes in the series, dealing with the tax structures of Brazil and the United Kingdom, will be released this morning.

Known as the World Tax Series, the reports seek to achieve two basic goals: (1) to describe each country's tax system in its own legal and administrative terms, and (2) to present each system in such a way that it can be compared, point by point, with others.

The work was begun in 1951, soon after the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations passed a resolution calling for the publication of a world-wide service of information on national tax laws and administration.

The Law School offered to cooperate in this project, and UN officials, working with members of the Law School faculty, prepared an outline for the contemplated series. Further discussions led, in 1952, to the establishment at the Law School of an International Program in Taxation.

Training and research activities were begun with the aid of a grant from the Ford Foundation. The World Tax Series was initiated as a part of the Program with financial support amounting to more than $150,000 from 66 corporations.

In preparing the reports, staff members of the Program have worked in close cooperation with carefully selected foreign correspondents. The correspondents, usually acknowledged experts on the tax systems of their own particular countries, have provided much of the basic information.