‘Rethinking tax law in the age of digitalisation and globalisation’: a profile of Yannis Vassiliadis, a PhD student at Toulouse School of Law

After completing a Master’s degree in tax law at the Toulouse School of Law, pursuing a PhD seemed the obvious next step. Yannis Vassiliadis saw the PhD programme as an opportunity to combine teaching, research and personal projects in the field of science communication.
 

Now in his fifth year of his PhD, supervised jointly by Sophie Raimbault de Fontaine and Gilles Dedeurwaerder, Yannis Vassiliadis is studying international tax relations. Dating back to the 1920s, tax law was designed for a tangible economy, with clear borders and physical flows. However, the dematerialisation of trade and the tax optimisation strategies employed by multinationals are rendering these legal rules ineffective, if not obsolete. How, then, can tax law be reinvented in the face of an economy that is now digitalised and globalised?

To tackle this major challenge, the PhD student draws on legal theory, but does not hesitate to borrow from economics or political science. It is a balancing act between legal rigour and interdisciplinary openness.

His approach is resolutely exploratory. “I cannot make decisions on behalf of states, but I suggest avenues for reflection. It is experimental work, almost forward-looking.” For him, taxation reflects the balance of power in the world. His thesis helps us understand how to change international tax relations in order to bring about fiscal transformation.
 

Through his role as a temporary teaching and research assistant (ATER) at UT Capitole, Yannis Vassiliadis shares his passion for tax law with his students. He also teaches introductory courses in private law and public law.

But it is outside the lecture theatres that he channels his infectious energy into making science accessible to the general public. As co-founder of the charity Le Tiroir, he produces videos on a wide range of topics, from biology to critical thinking. His YouTube channel, ‘Paix, amour et droit fiscal’, continues this work. “Explaining your subject to a non-expert audience forces you to rethink it. Sometimes, a simple question can spark a whole new line of thought,” he says.

This passion for sharing knowledge also led him to take part twice in the ‘My Thesis in 180 Seconds’ competition, brilliantly representing UT Capitole in the regional final. A formative experience: “It taught me how to address an audience and adapt my presentation to make my work more accessible. It’s also good practice for the thesis defence, where the nerves are ten times worse!”
 

“Make it accessible, be curious, and don’t be afraid to branch out – whilst staying on track! Curiosity is the driving force behind research.” This is the philosophy that the PhD student applies on a daily basis, both in the writing of his thesis and in his work on popularising science.