CONGRATULATIONS!
We would like to congratulate one of our contributors, Alara Efsun Yazicioglu, on successfully defending in Geneva, Switzerland, before a four-man Jury on 24 May, 2016, her Thesis on ‘Taxation of international sports events: An income tax analysis’ at Geneva University and being awarded the Degree of ‘Doctor of Law’ (‘Docteur en Droit’).
The Jury consisted of Prof Henry Peter and Prof Xavier Oberson, both of Geneva University, Dr Rijkele Betten and Prof Ian Blackshaw, who unanimously awarded the candidate the grade of ‘summa cum laude’.
In her Thesis, Dr Efsun, after describing and commenting on the various sources of revenue in international sport, then dealt with the impact of income tax on them at the national and international levels.
In her conclusions, she calls for an ‘International Sports Event Tax Exemptions Act’ which would standardise the granting of tax exemptions for the holding of ‘major sports events’ in Host States and Cities. This, she argues, would eliminate tax discrimination:
“Sport is still prone to different types of discrimination, such as racism and gender discrimination. Tax treatment of persons taking part in international sports events seems to form yet another layer of discrimination. As demonstrated in this Thesis, several treatments that may be considered as “discriminatory” occur during taxation of international sports events.”
Her Thesis will be published later as a Book and, no doubt, her proposals for an ‘International Sports Event Tax Exemptions Act’, which, to some may seem controversial - asking why should sport which accounts for more than 3% of world trade be tax exempt? - will lead to a lively debate amongst international sports bodies and sports persons and not least tax authorities, who wish to take a slice of the mega sums circulating in international sport!
