Overview
Dr Kathryn James teaches and researches in taxation law and policy with specific expertise in the value added tax (VAT) or goods and services tax (GST). Her research focuses on how ostensibly technical questions of taxation impact upon distributive justice.
Kathryn is an ARC Discovery Early Career Research fellow from December 2019 to December 2024 for a project that examines whether Australia Can and Should Reform the GST (DE190100346). The project builds upon her research to date that has focused on explaining the rapid rise of the VAT/GST. Her book, The Rise of the Value-Added Tax (Cambridge University Press, 2015), provided the first comprehensive and critical account of the rise of the VAT and was informed by various disciplinary perspectives including law, politics, history and economics.
Kathryn is the founder and convenor of the Community Tax Project - an alliance between academia and the community and welfare sector to advocate for tax reform in support of social justice.
Kathryn has published widely in a range of domestic and international journals (Federal Law Review, UNSW Law Journal, Theoretical Inquiries in Law, British Tax Review) and contributed to a range of publications on tax law and distributive justice (Oxford University Press, Hart).