I’ll be at Essex University for the next couple of days at the joint Tax Justice Network / Association for Accountancy and Business Affairs 2006 Tax Workshop (follow links on AABA homepage).

This is the fourth of these events I have organised and their importance is now hard to underestimate. When we began no one knew if a small bunch of people could promote the cause of tax justice, and have a real impact on the offshore world. This week I have been on BBC Radio Guernsey, Island FM on the same island and on LowTax.Net. And it’s only Wednesday. Accountancy Age also appear to be giving me a nod.

Jeffrey Owens of the OECD said in 2004 that tax justice might be as big as environmental issues within 10 years. Increasingly we’re thinking he might be right.

And it’s true that the 100 Group of Finance Directors (who demiurely do not have a web site) do their best to ignore us — and the Sustainability report of which I am a co-author has so far received little attention, but in recent discussions I have had with the International Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility at the University of Nottingham they reckon it’s just tow years before companies have no choice but take notice.

It’s hard work to stand out against the crowd, but we’re on a roll‚Ķ‚Ķ

Unfortunately — if you’re interested the workshop was fully booked several weeks ago.