Introduction Special Issue “Time for a Real Tax Reform-2025”

Abstract

These are challenging times for government policymakers. Fiscal systems are gradually recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, but relatively high public debt and deficit levels persist. Addressing them is complicated by many persisting and emerging factors. Two issues are dominant. One is the slowdown in productivity growth rates, which reduces the automatic increases in tax revenues that many countries have relied on to finance improvements in the level and quality of public services and transfers. The other is the gradual increase in inequality of incomes and in the relative share of capital to labour income. The result is growing wealth inequality, with a high proportion of wealth being owned by relatively few super-wealth individuals. This leads to a polarized society with less privileged persons facing falling living standards and opportunities and wealthy persons seemingly able to exercise an unhealthy amount of influence on the political process.