Taxation and regulation

Research into taxation and regulation is concerned with the legal rules governing the conduct of business entities, the regulation of the markets in which they raise equity and debt capital, and the laws on taxation which affect both enterprises and individuals.

Research in these areas currently encompasses:

• Securities and financial market regulation - The regulation of capital raising and the operation of capital markets, including the global governance of finance markets and the implications for New Zealand.
• White-collar crime - The criminalisation of business conduct and the criminology of business crimes, including serious fraud, corruption, money laundering and the financing of terrorism.
• Competition law and regulation - Reconciliation of the commercial incentives of individual enterprises with broader social goals, such as efficiency and consumer welfare, through the regulation of mergers and takeovers, cartels, misuse of market power and the regulation of utilities.
• Contract law - The law governing contracting arrangements between commercial entities and/or consumers, including construction contracts, unfair contractual terms and contractual terms regulating credit borrowing.
• Tax law, policy and practice - The collision between efforts to structure transactions in a tax-efficient manner and the government’s need to raise public revenue, including in relation to income tax, the goods and services tax, capital gains tax, taxation of corporate and other entities including Māori entities, and tax administration and disputes.
• Tax avoidance - The utilisation of the general anti-avoidance rules in domestic and international tax.