Rate My Professor John Taylor

Professor John Taylor, also known as C. John Taylor, was an Emeritus Professor in the School of Taxation and Business Law at UNSW Sydney Business School. He obtained his BA in 1974, LLB in 1976, LLM (Hons) in 1989, and PhD in 2016 from the University of Sydney, complemented by a Graduate Certificate in Higher Education from UNSW in 1994. Taylor's academic career at UNSW progressed from Senior Lecturer (1993–2000) and Associate Professor (2001–2009) to Professor and Head of the School of Taxation and Business Law (2009–2016), before retiring at the end of 2020. He served as a visiting professor or scholar at Harvard University, the University of Cambridge, Leiden University, the International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation, the University of British Columbia, the George Washington University, the University of Western Ontario, and the Plunkett Centre for Co-operative Studies. Additionally, he conducted contract research for the Commonwealth Department of the Treasury on income tax anti-avoidance provisions from 2006 to 2007.

Taylor's research focused on capital gains tax, taxation of business entities and corporate-shareholder relationships, international double taxation treaties, tax law simplification, and tax history. He was a contributing author to all editions of Understanding Taxation Law (LexisNexis, 2002–2019) and authored Capital Gains Tax: Business Assets and Entities (Law Book Company, 1994). Key publications include 'Twilight of the Neanderthals, or Are Bilateral Double Taxation Treaty Networks Sustainable?' (Melbourne University Law Review, 2010), 'The Negotiation and Drafting of the UK–Australia Double Taxation Treaty of 1946' (British Tax Review, 2009), 'The Negotiation and Drafting of the First Australia–United States Double Taxation Treaty of 1953' in Studies in the History of Tax Law Vol 7 (Hart Publishing, 2015), and 'The History of Australia’s Double Tax Conventions' in The History of Double Taxation Conventions in the Pre-BEPS Era (IBFD Publications, 2020). As principal author, he produced Beyond 4100: A Report on Measures to Combat Rising Compliance Costs through Reducing Tax Law Complexity (Taxation Institute of Australia, 2006). Taylor co-edited the eJournal of Tax Research from 2013 to 2021 and was recognized as the Inaugural Honorary Research Fellow of the Taxation Institute of Australia, receiving the Australasian Tax Teachers Association’s Hill Medal in 2019. His pioneering use of archival research profoundly influenced the interpretation of Australian tax treaties and policy development.