Abstract
Several strands in the international development of taxation during the last decades have contributed to structural problems that act as a hinder and even counteract the basis for gender equality. A general problem is that tax equity has become equivalent to what is good for economic growth. When social justice no longer plays a part in tax policy concern, the welfare state erodes. The income gap becomes extremely large, poverty increases, and the rich don’t pay their fair share of the tax burden. As women relative to men in most intersections of society have a subordinated socio-economic position, the outcome of this tax policy is not beneficial for women. This outcome stands out as deeply contradictory to the layers of legal obligations and policies, on both a national and international level, aiming to promote gender equality. The aim of this paper is to expose how tax laws can consolidate and even strengthen economic inequalities between men and women. I will discuss the deeply rooted culture of supporting the bread-winner family model by extensive tax expenditures, and why these type of regulations serves as disincentives to women’s labour market supply and the gendered inequality in the distribution of paid and unpaid work. Another topic is to explain why the world-wide loss of redistributive power in national tax systems is fuelling gender inequalities. The relation between gender equality and the taxation of capital income will be given some extra attention, with the purpose to make an argument that sustainable tax bases is very much a women’s issue.
Highlights
The outbreak of Covid-19 coincides with the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Beijing Platform for Action
Compounded socio-economic impacts are felt especially by women of all ages who are generally earning less, saving less, carrying a heavier burden of unpaid work, holding insecure jobs or living close to poverty. This is why Secretary-General did call to action on the basis on human rights, pointing out three cross-cutting priorities; ensure women’s equal representation in all covid-19 response planning and decision-making, drive transformative change for equality by addressing the paid and unpaid care economy, and thirdly, target women and girls in all effort to address the socio-economic impact of Covid-19 (UN 2020)
In our study of gender equality and taxation in the European Union, requested by the European Parliament’s Committee on Women’s Right and Gender Equality, we could confirm that the European Institutions nor the Member States complied with the legal obligations and political commitments regarding gender equality in the field of taxation
Summary
The outbreak of Covid-19 coincides with the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Beijing Platform for Action. In our study of gender equality and taxation in the European Union, requested by the European Parliament’s Committee on Women’s Right and Gender Equality, we could confirm that the European Institutions nor the Member States complied with the legal obligations and political commitments regarding gender equality in the field of taxation Compliance with these obligations needs at the least, regular impact assessments of all fiscal policies from a gender equality perspective, including proposals for tax legislation and soft law procedures (Gunnarsson, Schrazenstaller, and Spangenberg 2017). The main features of these tax reforms can briefly be summarized as follows: broader labor incomes tax bases but low progressivity; a moderate taxation of capital and corporations; uniform tax rates are applied on the consumption of goods and services; introduction of in-work tax subsidies; a shift from direct taxes to indirect taxes (Sandford 1993; Messere 1998; Sørensen 2010; Gunnarsson, Schrazenstaller, and Spangenberg 2017)
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