On May 17th – 19th, 2018, Deputy Director of the Center for China Fiscal Development, Director of International Taxation Research Center, Associate Professor Cao Mingxing has attended the executive committee meeting, Spring of 2018 – the Academic Seminar for the 80th Anniversary held by International Fiscal Association (IFA) in the Netherlands. 

International Fiscal Association, established in 1938 and headquartered in the Netherlands, is one of the world’s most famous international organizations specialized in academic research and exchange of international public finance and tax. IFA’s members include the senior representatives in the economics and law communities from various government agencies, NGOs, multi-nationals and research institutes. The membership covers more than 100 countries and more than 60 country chapters have been established. IFA attaches great importance to China’s fiscal and tax reform and development, and hopes to hear China’s voice in academic exchanges. CUFE organized the China annual conference of IFA in 2013 and set up IFA China Chapter under the support of State Administration of Taxation and IFA headquarter, and the secretariat is located in the Center for International Taxation Research, CUFE. Professor Li Junsheng is the chair of the Chapter and Cao is the secretary general. 

The establishment of this specialized organization has led to rapid advancement in international tax research at CUFE and in China at large, meanwhile it is of great significance for us to track closely the latest development in international tax, continuously have China’s voice to be heard, contribute China’s wisdom, escalate China’s international status in taxation, and beef up protection of China’s interest in international tax. Through years of efforts, IFA China has been widely recognized by SAT, IFA headquarter and the tax community. In order to further enhance China’s role as a specialized representative, and strengthen the coordination between the Chapter and headquarter, SAT and IFA headquarter recommended Cao Mingxing to serve as the Chinese member of the IFA headquarter executive committee. He was officially appointed to take this position through the election in the 2017 Global Conference.  

During this meeting, Professor Cao has consulted with the Association on some important management agenda and discussed the international tax in the new era under the theme “Tax in a New Universe”; on the other hand, he tabled the proposal on setting up “the Belt and Road Prize for China’s International Tax Research” and the proposal has gained support from other expert members. The plan is very likely to be announced for implementation in the 2018 IFA Global Conference in Seoul, Korea. The China prize will be conducive to gathering the global experts resources to help China’s research on international tax and facilitate the development of the Belt and Road Initiative; at the same time it is helpful for IFA’s own innovative development, and expand its oriental horizon and developing country’s perspectives on international tax research, further push the brand-new landscape of global cooperation on international tax to unfold. 

During this visit, Cao has also visited IBFD to discuss about the IBFD-CUFE dedicated training project for high-profile talents of international tax. IBFD is a professional international taxation organization committed to collecting cross-border data, publishing theory research and building specialized tax talents base. It also provides specialized training support for tax consulting firms, multi-nationals, international organizations, Ministry of Finance, SAT, institutions of higher learning, and tax practitioners. CUFE has already established strategic partnerships with IBFD. In the future, when high-caliber talents training projects for international tax are to be set up and implemented, there will be great opportunities to draw upon IBFD’s advanced resources and experience in international taxation, and foster specialized talents whom are on high demand for China’s Belt and Road development. These efforts will eventually serve the national strategies for economic development in the new era.