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 Associate 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

Jeanne Bomare

Jeanne Bomare

Senior Research Economist

Jeanne Bomare holds a BSc in Econometrics from Ecole Normale Superieure de Lyon and MSc Economics from the Paris School of Economics, where she is currently completing her PhD. Her research lies at the intersection of public economics and real estate economics, with a focus on offshore tax evasion and real
estate. Jeanne’s work at CenTax focuses on tax planning, avoidance and evasion at the top of the income and wealth distribution.

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.

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.

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.

Violetta Van Veen

Violetta Van Veen

Research Economist

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.

 

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.

Administrative staff

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.

Funding

CenTax is supported by core funding from the abrdn Financial Fairness Trust and Thirty Percy. We receive institutional support from the University of Warwick and the London School of Economics (LSE). Research outputs of the Centre have been supported by grants from the Economic & Social Research Council, Nuffield Foundation, Founders Pledge and Open Philanthropy.

The Centre for the Analysis of Taxation (CenTax) is dedicated to improving public understanding of tax policy and helping to design better a better tax system, by generating evidence that is rigorous and relevant to policymakers and the public. CenTax is led by Dr Arun Advani (Warwick) and Dr Andy Summers (LSE). CenTax is supported by core funding from the abrdn Financial Fairness Trust and Thirty Percy Foundation