THE ROLE AND FUNCTION OF TAXATION FOR SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC RECOVERY POST-COVID-19.

• Date: 22 March 2020
• Author: Lind, Yvette
• Published date: 22 March 2020
• Author: Lind, Yvette

Papers attributable to this special issue are a result of the discussions held at the conference "Sustainable Taxation--Global Challenges and Legal Solutions" organized at the University College of Gavle (Sweden) in April 2019. Despite the papers having been written before the ongoing pandemic, the content of them is now more topical than ever as individual states will, beside the apparent health crisis, struggle with not only financial recovery but also tangible inequality within society. As is discussed next in Prof. Buchanan's editorial, intergenerational justice is a highly plausible way of moving forward and promoting greater equality not only within tax systems but also within the society in general. Buchanan's utilization of the U.S. example provides us with highly relevant and thought-proving insights.

As we speak, governments worldwide are structuring their economic recovery measures to mitigate the disruptive effects of COVID-19 and to lay out the foundation for financial recovery post-COVID-19. The papers in this issue provide well-needed insights in how this may be achieved. Davis-Nozemack and Kisska-Schulze deliver an excellent introduction to the concept of sustainable taxation in their paper, Applying Sustainability to Tax, in which they address how states can design their national tax policies in order to promote a development which, among other objectives, combats social and financial inequality. Repetti links into these discussions when analysing progressive income taxation in the United States through the perspectives of efficiency and equity in his paper, The Appropriate Roles for Equity and Efficiency in a Progressive Individual Income Tax. He argues that the increased focus on economic efficiency, when formulating tax policy, has resulted in decreased rate progressivity in the U.S. individual...