CIOT appoints new Tax Policy Director, former Deloitte Senior Tax Partner, John Cullinane
The Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT) has appointed John Cullinane as the organisation’s new Tax Policy Director. He takes over from Patrick Stevens.
John retired from Deloitte London in May 2015, having lead the Firm’s Tax Quality and Risk function division. He has a long standing interest in tax policy issues and has worked with governments and international finance centres to develop more effective and competitive tax policies.
Commenting, CIOT President Chris Jones said:
“John is taking up this role at an exciting time – the profile of tax issues in Parliament, press and public debate remains sky high and the need for the tax profession to make its voice heard in the corridors of power has never been greater.
“As our lead spokesperson to both media and political audiences, John will be leading on communicating our objectives to policy-makers and opinion-formers. These include the need for greater simplicity and clarity in the tax system, so people can understand how much tax they should be paying and why, and a fair balance between the powers of the tax authorities and the rights of taxpayers.”
John Cullinane added:
“I am delighted to be taking over as the Institute’s new Tax Policy Director.
“Tax continues to be front page news but the need for explanation, education and careful technical scrutiny of the details is as great as ever. I will never forget that the reason the Institute speaks with authority and is listened to by the key tax decision-makers is the expertise of our 17,000 members, including the more than 200 members who sit on our technical sub-committees formulating our responses to government and other consultations.
“I am particularly looking forward to representing the Institute in debates at next month’s political party conferences. Promoting forums for discussion of tax issues is at the heart of what we are for and taking the debate to politicians – government and opposition – is a key part of this.”
John Cullinane was a senior tax partner at Deloitte and an elected member of the board of partners at Deloitte LLP. He specialised in financial, international and corporate tax and in advising public authorities and others on developing taxation systems and on tax issues concerning creating successful Financial Centres. Projects for sovereign governments include involvement in Deloitte’s work for the Foot Review for the UK Treasury on UK offshore financial centres. He also led the tax component of the Qatar Financial Centre project from the feasibility stage through to detailed design work on the proposed tax regime.