Half of tax law professors also have commercial jobs

In February, the Dutch Minister of Education, Eppo Bruins, told the Senate that he couldn't say how many tax law professors also had jobs in the private sector. But Leiden University can. On Tuesday, the professor of tax law, Jan Vleggeert, published a list of 68 tax law professors and their secondary positions. Over seventy percent of tax law professors are wearing two hats, of whom twenty percent work in public administration or law, and fifty percent have a side job in a commercial company.

The latter group includes 35 tax law professors who advise companies or wealthy individuals on behalf of big consultancy firms like EY (with which four professors are affiliated), PwC (five) and KPMG (two). Smaller consultancy firms such as BDO, Mazars, BakerTilly and Loyens & Loeff have also hired university. professors. Loyens & Loeff pays three tax law professors for advice and has another two on its payroll.

In total, nine universities have tax law professors also working for the private sector. University of Amsterdam, VU University Amsterdam, Erasmus University and Tilburg University are the most affected ones. No UU professors were mentioned in the investigation.

Not everyone sees this as a problem, however. When asked by the Higher Education Press Agency, the University of Amsterdam (UvA) calls secondary positions ‘essentially a good thing as they ensure strong connections with society, enrich education and contribute to research impact’. Moreover, UvA argues it is full-time professors of tax law are not easy to come by, considering that the salaries offered by the private sector are ‘considerably higher’ than those offered by universities.

Professor Jan Vleggeert is concerned about the independence of his field. After all, a professor who helps a client reduce their tax bill at one moment must be critical of this at the next if he wants to be an independent academic. ‘If so many professors wearing two hats must take the interests of their employers into account, fiscal science in the Netherlands is not independent enough.’