Steven Dean (Boston University), Erin Ryu (J.D. 2026, Boston University) & Danna Lopez-Flores (J.D. 2026, Boston University), Back to the Future: How the Pre-OECD Global Tax Landscape Offers Lessons for Today:

At a time when developing countries need to ramp up investment to achieve development and climate goals, tax revenue is particularly urgent. A global tax system weighted towards multinational companies makes collecting this revenue more challenging. International cooperation can help correct these imbalances, but a major question is how and where these negotiations should occur: the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) or the United Nations (UN)?

This debate is sometimes framed as a choice between the traditional forum of the OECD or a step into new territory for the UN, but a more complete history challenges this binary. A contemporary observer might also be surprised to learn that the US, which opposed moving tax negotiations towards the UN under the Biden Administration, and now challenges the concept of international tax cooperation more broadly, with the Trump Administration disavowing the OECD’s so-called global tax deal, has a forgotten history of embracing more equitable tax policy.

This policy brief traces the history of international tax policy, showing that the OECD-dominated, multinational corporation-friendly tax policy that has taken hold is not inevitable, drawing on research from a forthcoming book, Racial Capitalism and International Tax Law: The Story of Global Jim Crow (September 2025).

Examining pre-WWII history, when the US supported the reconstruction of Europe, this brief shows that a more collaborative approach is possible. In the 21st century, developed countries could learn from history to support countries in the Global South, helping them climb the development ladder.

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