A general bias in most welfare states has been to use public revenues to deal with inequality in social and economic programmes. However, tax policies and regulatory tax reforms very seldom consider that gender norms and practices have had profound effects in shaping tax systems, which has become hindrance for achieving economic gender equality.
By applying a gender perspective on family and business taxation we want to show that breadwinning and support of the family are common dominators for how the modern income taxation was constructed. A common understanding is that the consequence of this transformation from family economy to market economy also lead to a permanent and clear cut between these two spheres of economy. We will show that this idea of separation is more of a fiction than the reality.
This volume takes a critical look at the gender of tax policy around the world. Contributors based in eight different countries examine the profound effects that gender norms and practices have had in shaping tax law and policy, and how taxation in turn impacts upon the possibilities for equality along gender, race, class, sexuality and other lines. It includes chapters that explore how the gendered fiscal state might be theorised; how structural choices about rates and bases in tax policy design contribute to gender inequality; how tax policy affects family configurations and perceptions of what constitutes family; how fiscal systems impact savings and wealth accumulation by women and men; and, the role of different policy making processes and institutions in occluding and sometimes challenging these patterns. Most significantly, perhaps, the book explores these questions in an international frame, traversing countries and continents. The conclusion: fiscal policy has deep rooted, long standing gender implications that affect virtually every aspect of our social, political, and economic lives whether we live in Canada, Australia or Kenya.
Detta kapitel innehåller en berättelse om och våra reflektioner kring erfarenheter av en påtvingad nedläggning under 2018 av forsknings- och utbildningsmiljön Juridiskt forum (Umeå Forum for Studies on Law and Society). Vi börjar i en meta-berättelse om utveckling, framgång, motstånd och fall. Ur denna berättelse har två teman utkristalliserats: Exkludering av genusrättsvetenskap från utbildning och forskning samt Genusrättsvetenskap och genusrättsvetenskapare som arbetsmiljöproblem(et). Dessa kontextualiseras som uttryck för den rättsdogmatiska traditionens motstånd mot de kritiska ontologiska och epistemologiska utmaningar som den nordiska genusrättsvetenskapliga traditionen och socio-rättsliga studier representerar. Vi hävdar att motståndet på institutionell, akademisk och personlig nivå i grunden handlar om en djup oförmåga och ovilja att hantera mångfald, kritik och utveckling. När nu denna kamp är över, och vår gränsöverskridande, kritiska miljö har eliminerats så finns det ändå inga vinnare. Istället anser vi att utvecklingspotentialen för den snäva rättsvetenskap som produceras i Umeå idag är låg, vilket underminerar möjligheterna till att uppfylla förändringsbehov i juristutbildningen. Motstånd har ständigt varit närvarande under genusrättsvetenskapens nära 40-åriga nordiska historia och andra starka genusrättsvetenskapliga miljöer och enskilda forskare har gått liknande öden till mötes som vårt. Ändå slutar inte vår berättelse i pessimism. Nedläggningen av Juridiskt forum kan inte hindra utvecklingen. Genusrättsvetenskapen i Norden har satt sig och utvecklas starkt som akademiskt ämne. Efterfrågan är stor från juriststudenter och volymen på expertuppdrag, forskning och publikationer är omfattande. Viktiga samhällsutmaningar ställer nya kunskapskrav på framtidens jurister. Genus och rätt är utan tvekan en del av denna kunskapsutveckling i Norden.
During the period 1991–2004, political support for the inheritance and gift taxation in Sweden diminished, which contributed to two major policy shifts. In 1991, a new tax schedule which reduced top rates was introduced. The tax was thereafter completely repealed in 2004. In this paper, we examine how background factors such as competitiveness and political legitimacy influenced these decisions. By studying the preceding decision-making processes, we find that the influence of these factors shifted over time and appeared in different combinations. While the 1991 reform was strongly influenced by competitiveness arguments, the repeal of the inheritance and gift tax was primarily a result of the declining legitimacy of the tax.
In this comparative analysis of the UK and Sweden, we consider, if inherited wealth is most deserving of redistributive taxation, then what lessons, if any, may be learned from the difficult paths faced by this tax in these countries. We conclude that the political momentum behind the Swedish family business was distinct, and, possibly, capable of travel to the UK.
This chapter argues that the boundary between law and politics is an 'apparent' boundary, meaning that there is a conception of a limit separating law and politics in legislation, adjudication and legal scholarship. This chapter focuses on the relation of law to politics. It describes established definitions of law and politics, and recapitulates common Swedish debates on the relationship between legal scholars and political scientists. In the Nordic context legal scholarship usually raises questions other than those concerning the relationship between law and politics. The idea of law as an object finds expression in the drawing up of a boundary between law and politics, which is important both theoretically and methodologically. In a widely used Swedish judicial textbook, law is defined as the doctrine of the rule of law combined with the practice of adjudication. Current law is considered to be the core of the academic discipline of legal scholarship and is also a common object of study.
Sustainability has become the key principle for our future, and, in taxpolicy, sustainability has long been equal to the dominant concept of“taxing for economic growth.” However, the concept lacks an idea onjustice, tax justice as well as social justice, which inevitably leads to economicinequality gaps. New literature and empirical studies have contributedto a new awareness on how increasing inequalities can undermineeconomic growth. Based on the European situation, this Article arguesfor new perspectives on fair and sustainable taxation. Gender equality isone of these new perspectives. Why is explained in this Article.
The book Tax Inequality and Human Rights, published in 2019, thoroughly discussed the links between human rights and tax norms, regarding both policies and regulations. Basically, the new interest in the relationship between how human rights connects to tax policies on global and national levels are related to a development of growing wealth and income inequalities. The dominant growth promoting tax ideology on fiscal consolidation and neutrality, supported by powerful actors, have led to damaging consequences for social and economic sustainability. Tax reforms during the last decades have built tax systems with an outcome that are contradictory to the resource mobilization and redistribution that are necessary for the realization of human rights. It is obvious that Agenda 2030 demands a reset and a rebuild of fiscal systems that have the potential to combat poverty. This chapter will explore the fiscal sociology-based knowledge that we need in order to improve the substantive capacity of legal reforms to create inclusive societies.
National tax laws and international tax policies have, despite impressive growth performancesin many economies, worked against economic gender equality. The broad concept of taxfairness has become equivalent to what is good for economic growth and detached from socialjustice, leading to increasing income gaps and poverty. As a result, many aspects of taxationhave indirectly had a substantial effect on gender-related socio-economic inequalities eventhough most domestic tax laws being gender neutral. The ignorance to consider genderinequalities, when designing tax laws, is obviously in conflict with several legal obligations andpolicies, on national, regional and international levels.
In this article novel insights concerning the relationship between gender equality and taxationare presented. These insights have been pushed forward by both the societal challenges offinancial crisis and now the pandemic crisis. Based on legal and economic perspectives, thearticle provides an overview of gender aspects within taxation when related to current tax policy trends.
The National tax laws and international tax policies have, despite impressive growth performances in many economies, worked against economic gender equality. The broad concept of tax fairness has become equivalent to what is good for economic growth and detached from social justice, leading to increasing income gaps and poverty. As a result, many aspects of taxation have indirectly had a substantial effect on gender-related socio-economic inequalities even though most domestic tax laws being gender neutral. The ignorance to consider gender inequalities, when designing tax laws, is obviously in conflict with several legal obligations and policies, on national, regional and international levels.
In this paper, novel insights concerning the relationship between gender equality and taxation are presented. These insights have been pushed forward by both the societal challenges of financial crisis and now the pandemic crisis. Based on legal and economic perspectives, the anlysis in the text provides an overview of gender aspects within taxation when related to current tax policy trends.
This chapter reflects on how and why a comprehensive welfare state like Sweden, with far-reaching egalitarian commitments, still reproduces inequalities between men and women. The gender perspective adopted in the chapter concerns both the politics of sex equality between men and women, and the legal constructions of gender relations. This chapter explores from a Swedish perspective, why a transformed conception of social citizenship is needed in order to achieve a more inclusive social welfare regime from a gender perspective. The theoretical concept of social citizenship is commonly used in contemporary research, not always explicitly but in substance, as an instrument for analysing gender, equality, and welfare regimes. The recognition by the welfare state that certain social needs are legitimate creates a legal framework for social access. Social entitlements, following the public insurance principle, derive from labour market status and constitute a public, social insurance system providing income compensation when an individual is incapable of work.
Sverige ligger i framkant när det gäller jämställdhet. Men vi är inte där ännu. För svensk del finns det fortfarande områden som i stort sett har saknat en genomlysning utifrån de jämställdhetsmål som beslutats på svensk, europeisk och global nivå. Skatterätten är just ett sådant område. I Sverige, liksom i många andra länder, är det inte skattelagarna i sig som ger upphov till ekonomisk ojämställdhet och diskriminering. Däremot förekommer olika grader av strukturell diskriminering. Några av dessa strukturer identifieras i den här artikeln. Den mest grundläggande utgörs av skattesystemets fördelningsprofil. Skattelagar kan befästa och fördjupa den ekonomiska ojämställdheten mellan kvinnor och män, men har också stor potential att utjämna ojämställda ekonomiska förhållanden när det gäller inkomster och förmögenheter. En annan grundläggande fråga som kan vara avgörande för jämställdheten är hur skattesubjekt respektive skatteobjekt definieras. Eftersom relationen mellan skatterätt och jämställdhet har varit en fråga i marginalen, ges inledningsvis en politisk och historisk beskrivning av skatterättsliga principer om skatterättvisa som legitim grund för skattesystemens uppbyggnad. Syftet är att problematisera den dominerande synen på begreppet skatterättvisa i relation till jämställdhetsmålen. I problematiseringen ligger en genusteoretisk kunskapskritik mot föreställningen om att skatterätten kan vara könsneutral trots att det finns en grundläggande socioekonomisk verklighet som präglas av kvinnors ekonomiska underordning.
Jämställdhet är utan tvekan en systembärande idé för rättvisa och hållbara skatter. Problemet är att många skattelagar, under rådande skatteideologi, bidragit till att befästa och fördjupa den ekonomiska ojämställdheten. Det är dessutom svårt att se en förändringspotential så länge som vetenskapliga förgivettaganden och försanthållanden om skatternas funktion i samhället utesluter principiella övervägande om relationen mellan skatterättvisa och jämställdhet. I den här krönikan är avsikten att visa på dolda jämställdhetsproblem i svensk skatterätt som vi i kontexten av kris och behovet av hållbara skattebaser inte längre kan ignorera. Den här krönikan bygger till stor del på den forskning som bedrivits inom Horisont 2020-projektet Revisioning the ‘Fiscal EU’: Fair, Sustainable, and Coordinated Tax and Social Policies (FairTax).
DEBATT. Skattepolitiken bygger på en uppenbar fördomsfull syn på kvinnors ekonomiska ställning i samhället. Den kan kort och gott sammanfattas som att män ska har rätt till avdrag och kvinnor ska be om bidrag, skriver Åsa Gunnarsson, professor i skatterätt.
An equitable distribution of the tax burden is a fundamental value in the justification of the tax law. The concrete application of theoretical principles for an equitable distribution of the tax burden takes place in tax legislation through applying principles of law of the ethical and social policy categories. The concrete application of an efficient allocation of resources takes place by applying principles of law establishing neutrality of taxation. These fundamental principles of law therefore act as a meeting point between the basic values and objectives of the legislation on the one hand and the legal rules such as they are formed by statutes and case law on the other hand. Concepts as central in this context as those of equitable distribution and the efficient allocation of resources represent two different aspects on the function of the public economy. In certain contexts these concepts may even be conflicting.
The purpose of this dissertation is to analyze the principles of an equitable distribution of the tax burden. This is done from the perspective of the theories of law and of taxation. The intention has also been to study the normative influence of these legal principles on the definition of the tax bases for income tax, net wealth tax, and consumption taxes. Moreover, some light will be shed on the contradiction between certain principles of equity and the principle of neutrality of taxation in relation to the more general objective of efficiency in the national economy.
The analysis shows the legislators’ difficulties in upholding normative coherence when transforming principles into legislation. Sometimes the equity principles are used more as a legitimizing front than as a guide for establishing the material contents of the tax law.
Dagens skattesystem befaster den ekonomiska skillnaden mellan kvinnor och man. Den ideologi som formar vårt skattesystem strävar efter laga, icke-progressiva skatter på arbete, ännu lägre skatter pa kapital och bolag, ingen förmögenhetsskatt och enhetlig mervärdesskatt pa alla varor och tjänster. Eftersom man har hogre arbetsinkomster, är mycket rikare och äger bolag i större utsträckning än kvinnor så är det har en skattepolitik som gynnar män, hävdar rättsvetaren Åsa Gunnarsson.
Key Findings