About CenTax

Our policy interventions build on cutting-edge academic research conducted by our team of economic and legal researchers, as well as international evidence and experience. We work at the interface of academia and policy to conduct research that can be used by government and hold government to account. We are politically impartial and independent. Our work aims not just to react to current debates but to set the policymaking agenda by shedding new light on the topics that matter for public finances and trust in the tax system.

Our research focuses on the characteristics, behaviours and economic impacts of top earners and the wealthy, and the design of taxes affecting this group. As we expand, we’ll develop into other areas of the tax system too. Our research is mainly quantitative, but we work closely with tax advisors and the legal profession, as well as statisticians and policymakers. This collaboration is core to our mission because it enables us to provide evidence and evaluation that is academically rigorous but also resonates in the real world.

Directors

Dr Arun Advani

Dr Arun Advani

Director, CenTax and Professor of Economics
University of Warwick.

Personal website

 

Dr Andy Summers

Dr Andy Summers

Director, CenTax and Associate Professor of Law
LSE Law School

Personal website 

 

Research Staff

Camilla Skovbo Christensen

Camilla Skovbo Christensen

senior research economist

Camilla Skovbo Christensen holds a BSc and MSc in Economics from the University of Copenhagen, where she also recently completed her PhD. Her primary research field is public economics, and her main research topics are tax policy, savings behavior and inequality. She is a Research Officer at the International Inequalities Institute at LSE, and at the Centre for Economic Behavior and Inequality at University of Copenhagen.

Dr Sebastian Gazmuri-Barker

Dr Sebastian Gazmuri-Barker

Senior Legal Analyst

Sebastian holds an LLB in Law from Pontificia Universidad Católica and an LLM in Law from LSE. He has recently completed his PhD in tax law and policy at LSE Law School, with a focus on tax systems in developing countries. He previously worked in tax advisory at EY (UK), and in corporate M&A at Carey y Cia (Chile). His research at CenTax currently focuses on the design of tax policies affecting top earners and the wealthy.

James Forrester

James Forrester

research economist

James Forrester holds an MSci (incorporating BSc) in Mathematics from Imperial College London and an MSc in Economics from the University of Edinburgh. Previously, James worked on various aspects of public policy analysis at London Economics, an economic consultancy. His current research at the CenTax focuses the characteristics and behaviours of high wealth individuals and the design of Inheritance Tax, using administrative microdata.

Helen Hughson

Helen Hughson

Senior Research Economist

Helen Hughson holds a BA in Economcs from University of Melbourne and MSc Economics from University College London. Prior to joining the team in 2019, she spent five years working as an economist at the Reserve Bank of Australia. Her research focuses on the measurement of inequality and taxes at the top. She also leads on data infrastructure development across the team.

Andrew Lonsdale

Andrew Lonsdale

Research Economist

Andrew Lonsdale holds an MSc in Economics from the Paris School of Economics as well as degrees from LSE and McMaster University. He previously worked as an intern at the OECD’s Centre for Tax Policy and Administration. His current research at CenTax focuses on the revenue and distributional impacts of reforms to Capital Gains Tax, using administrative microdata.

Sanaya Mahajan

Sanaya Mahajan

research economist

Sanaya Mahajan holds a BSc in Economics from Singapore Management University (SMU) and a MSc in Economics from LSE. Her current research at the CenTax involves analysis of tax policies affecting top earners within the private equity industry, using administrative microdata. She is also assisting the development of a new dataset for analysing the firm-level impacts of personal tax policies on innovation and growth.

Jack Pepin-Hall

Jack Pepin-Hall

Research Economist

Jack Pepin-Hall holds an MSc in Economics and BSc in Mathematics and Economics from the LSE. Previously, Jack worked as an Economist at UK Research and Innovation. His current research at CenTax is focused on the response of higher-income parents to childcare policies and the tax system, using administrative microdata.

Gabriel Lobo de Oliveria

Gabriel Lobo de Oliveria

Research Economist

Gabriel holds an MSc in Economics from the London School of Economics and a BSc in Economics from the University of Bristol. He previously interned in economic consultancies and as a research assistant. His current work uses administrative tax data to understand firm and worker characteristics, including firm wage premia and R&D expenditure.

Research Fellows

David Burgherr

David Burgherr

Research Fellow

David is a PhD candidate in Economics at the University of Zurich. He holds a BSc and MSc in Economics from the University of Bern. Before starting the PhD, he worked as a Research Assistant at the International Inequalities Institute at LSE. His research has been recognized by the International Institute of Public Finance with the IIPF Young Economists Award 2023. He studies issues of taxation, inequality, and pension policy, typically involving the analysis of large administrative datasets.

Dr Arnaud Dyèvre

Dr Arnaud Dyèvre

Senior Research Fellow

 Arnaud is a Postdoctoral Associate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Science for Progress Initiative. He holds a BSc in Mathematics from Sorbonne Université and an MRes and a PhD in Economics from LSE. He will join HEC Paris in September 2025 as an Assistant Professor of Economics. His research focuses on growth, innovation and firm heterogeneity. His work at CenTax investigates the determinants of firm growth and the impact of migration in the UK.

 

Cesar Poux

Cesar Poux

Research Fellow

César Poux is a PhD candidate in Economics at the Paris School of Economic (PSE). He holds a BSc in History and Economics from the ENS Paris-Saclay and an MSc in Economics from PSE. He previously worked as a Research Assistant at the French Council of Economic Analysis and at the International Inequalities Institute at LSE. His research focuses on the taxation of internationally mobile individuals, and transnational corporate and ownership structures.

Violetta Van Veen

Violetta Van Veen

research FELLOW

Violetta holds a BSc in Economics in the University of Bologna and a MSc in Economics in the Paris School of Economics (PSE). She previously worked as a research intern at PSE and the OECD. Her research at CenTax focuses on real responses to taxation of high incomes, in particular effects on retirement and pension contributions, using administrative microdata and quasi-experimental methods.

Johnathan Inkley

Johnathan Inkley

Research Economist

Johnathan Inkley holds a BA in Mathematics from the University of Cambridge, an MSc in Computer Science from Imperial College, and an MSc in Inequalities and Social Science from LSE. He has worked as economics consultant in the field of renewable energy modelling and as a software engineer in the private sector. His current research at CenTax focuses on corporate networks and political donations.

External affairs, policy and operations

Beverley Morris

Beverley Morris

CENTRE MANAGER

Beverley has worked in the HE sector for 15 years, primarily at the University of Warwick. As the Centre Manager Beverley works with the Directors to develop, implement and manage activities within the Centre to enable high quality research to be undertaken to support the delivery of the Centre’s strategic plans.

Meg Davies

Meg Davies

Communications and public affairs lead

Meg is a strategic communications and public affairs professional and leads CenTax’s external affairs, spanning media, advocacy and political engagement. Before joining CenTax, Meg led advocacy and campaigns at the Economic Change Unit and was a regular contributor to New Economy Brief. Prior to that, she served as Head of Political Engagement at the care leaver charity Drive Forward and began her career as a parliamentary researcher. Meg holds an MSc in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from Birkbeck, University of London, and a BSc in Sociology from the University of Bristol.

Josh Flew

Josh Flew

policy fellow

Josh is responsible for supporting CenTax’s policy work. This includes working with the research team on their policy outputs, engagement with government, and managing policy events. He trained in HMRC Large Business compliance and has worked in Income Tax policy, data policy and in the Permanent Secretaries’ office. Josh holds a BA in Professional Taxation Studies from Manchester Metropolitan University and a BA in History from the University of Manchester. He is on secondment from HMRC.

Funding

CenTax receives in-kind support and direct grants from a range of sources. 

We receive in-kind support from LSE and Warwick University towards administration, estates, IT, academic resources etc. The Directors’ salary costs are funded by their universities independently of their roles at CenTax. CenTax also benefits from access to administrative data and associated support from government, which is provided free by relevant the government departments under standard terms for accredited researchers.[1]  

We also receive direct grants from funders such as research councils, charitable foundations and government departments. Below, we report the full value of any grants awarded to CenTax, plus the relevant share of any other grants that have funded CenTax staff time (for example, partial involvement in projects under grants awarded to other organisations) and/or outputs that are published on CenTax’s website. 

CenTax is strongly committed to the principle of academic independence. We will never accept in-kind support or grants on terms that could enable the funder to influence the conduct or outcomes of our research. We always take appropriate steps to mitigate risks of actual or perceived influence in the terms that we agree with our funders. Our main funding is from research councils and other foundations that award grants through a process of peer-review, which is operationally independent from government or individual donors. 

Below is a complete list of grants awarded for projects active since September 2024, when CenTax was founded: 

Funder 

Start 

End 

Amount 

Founders Pledge 

09/2022 

12/2024 

£280,000 

ESRC 

11/2022 

10/2026 

£999,945 

Nuffield Foundation 

05/2023 

07/2026 

£469,513 

Nuffield Foundation 

09/2023 

12/2024 

£93,000 

Abrdn Financial Fairness Trust [2]

09/2024 

09/2025 

£661,000 

Coefficient Giving

10/2024 

12/2026 

£164,000 

UKRI  

11/2024 

11/2028 

£1,326,980 

Thirty Percy Foundation 

01/2025 

01/2027 

£500,000 

Abrdn Financial Fairness Trust  

01/2025 

07/2025 

£13,200 

Joseph Roundtree Foundation 

08/2025 

12/2025 

£24,000 

HMRC [3]

09/2025 

08/2027 

£84,912 

1 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/hmrc-datalab/about-the-hmrc-datalab
2 Now called Aberdeen Group Charitable Trust. CenTax’s relationship with the Trust ended on 05/09/2025.
3 CenTax have appointed an individual as a Policy Fellow, on secondment from HMRC. Under this arrangement, CenTax are reimbursing HMRC for its payroll costs up to the standard rate for an LSE Policy Fellow, with HMRC bearing the remaining cost under the individual’s continuing employment terms. The total cost to HMRC of this arrangement is £84,912 over two years.