Global Tax Policy and Sustainable Governance

Full course description

This course focusses on how taxes, as one of the policy instruments available to governments, can contribute to addressing some of the grand global challenges of our time. In a globalized and mobile economy, traditional legal frameworks for taxation may not always be sustainable.

In this course we will not discuss tax law as it is, but we focus in general on tax systems and their (potential) use. The 2024/2025 version of this course will focus on the following three grand challenges.

First we will look into the issue of inequality and intergenerational equity and see to what extent income and wealth taxes can play a role in addressing these issues. We look into the (potential) role of inheritance taxes as a universal basic income as an alternative tool for redistribution of income.

We then take a look at fair corporate taxation of corporations in a society that changes towards a digital economy and extensive automation (robotisation). These phenomena challenge traditional tax systems that focus on physical locations or real persons performing labor. We look in particular at the interplay between boardroom ethics with respect to tax avoidance and the specific needs of developing countries when designing new (global) tax systems.

The third theme focuses on the role of taxation in climate change and regulating the use of tax expenditure (tax subsidies, state aid) aimed at greening the economy. We then bring this course to a close by looking at how societal (in)equality, paying taxes and environmental restraints are interdependent.

Each of these themes could warrant its own course to go more in depth. This course is positioned to bring these topics together at a meta level to provide lawyers with an overview of these challenges in a tax law context.

The answers to the societal challenge we face does not only depend on legal principles, but also on political and ethical choices. Therefore, this course is interdisciplinary and, while set in a legal context, it draws from legal as well as economic and political philosophy literature and other sources to find answers.

Group presentations will take place during the course to start student discussions at each meeting. Please note that the final paper is an essay to be written during a normal exam timeslot at the exam location.