High Praise

Tax Notes International’s Person of The Year: 

Michael Lennard, An International Tax Diplomat

My attention was recently drawn to the December 2023 edition of the publication of Tax Notes International.  The cover page, shown right, carries a portrait of former student, Michael Lennard (SVC 1971-78) and the edition carries a nine page article acknowledging Michael’s motivation, endeavours and contributions as Chief of International Tax Cooperation in the Financing for Sustainable Development Office of the United Nations in New York and as Secretary of the UN Committee of Experts on International Cooperation in Tax Matters. 

Below are a number of quotes from the article written by Nana Ama Sarfo and the full article can be accessed online.

At heart, Lennard is an international law and economic law expert, a practitioner whose scholarly interest in both disciplines led him to develop an encyclopaedic expertise in trade and tax law. In Australia, Lennard started his career in competition and consumer law, before joining the Australian Taxation Office (Appeals), where he practiced tax law.  From the ATO, Lennard joined Australia’s Attorney-General’s Department, where he handled trade and investment law matters, including arbitration law. That experience unlocked a lifelong interest in both international law and trade law. After the Attorney-General’s Department, Lennard did a postgraduate course in international trade law in Italy and earned a Master of International Law at the Australian National University. Lennard also earned a Master’s degree at Cambridge, where he focused on treaty interpretation and the relation of trade and environmental issues in the World Trade Organization. After Cambridge, Lennard joined the Australian Government Office of International Law, where he advised ministers, cabinet officials, and ministries on international law. “

But the ATO hadn’t forgotten Lennard, and it recruited him to work on tax treaties. After two years in Australia, Lennard joined the OECD in 2003 to work on tax treaties. In 2006 he joined the U.N.  Lennard assumed the role at a time when people were making stronger links between taxation and sustainable development. Developing countries wanted organic ways to strengthen their economies. They were tired of aid. “Aid can be helpful, but it is often tied or uncertain, and it is not a long-term solution”.

Profit shifting out of developing countries is hard to estimate, but there was a general sense when Lennard joined the U.N. that developing countries were navigating an increasingly untenable situation. At the time, developing countries didn’t have many tools available to them, but they did have a potential one: tax treaties. However, employing treaties to stop profit shifting was easier said than done.

“Both my upbringing from my parents and my schooling in Tasmania were grounded in humility, social justice, and using your talents for the benefit of people other than yourself,” he said. “My parents were children of the Depression, and that shaped them and their values.”

“From the very beginning, and in all respects, Michael clearly showed that he had the best interests of developing countries in mind,” (Stig Sollund- former UN Tax Committee Member)

“I do not think that, at least in the present membership, there is anyone who has even an iota of doubt about Michael’s sense of fairness and his commitment to the cause of developing countries,” said committee member Rasmi Ranjan Das.

Reflecting on Lennard’s work, Annet Oguttu, Professor of Tax Law at the University of Pretoria, told Tax Notes that his ability to broker agreements and compromises stems from his open manner. “He says it as it is, but in a very gentle, diplomatic, and inclusive manner. He knows his stuff, but he has a way about him that does not antagonize people. When you have a view about something, there is a way you can say it to ensure the inclusivity of people. He carries the clout, the personality, the empathy, and the drive. He has the right words to say.”

“When [Lennard is] sitting up at the podium and all hell is breaking loose between countries disagreeing, he has this beautiful, disarming smile and then comes forward with a solution that people ultimately endorse. So, it’s a big advantage to have a disarming smile if you’re an international civil servant, whether at the U.N. or OECD,”. Jeffrey Owens, Director of the WU Global Tax Policy Centre.

For nearly 20 years………. Lennard has given his all, both professionally and personally, in ways that have both enriched the tax world and proved his own mettle in the toughest times. “Doing some of my hardest work while undertaking simultaneous radiotherapy and chemotherapy, and then major cancer surgery (successfully, and well supported by my wife), was something I am proud of — because there was no alternative,” Lennard said. “As someone who watched the first moon landing from school in distant Tasmania and who has been forever inspired by the Apollo project, I recognize the importance of high ambition and the acceptance that sometimes, on the biggest projects, failure is simply not an option.” 

Photo of Michael taken during a recent return visit to Austins Ferry Photo: Bruce Woods