Rethinking Taxation of Impact Investments

Abstract

This chapter analyzes the critical issues and opportunities of a tax model based on social impact. In this perspective, the impact is taken as a substantial legal criterion. Tax concessions to companies and investments, in other words, are not recognized according to the mere purpose of social impact, but on its concrete measurement. In this perspective, it would be possible to conceive the system of tax expenditures, in favor of social entrepreneurship and impact investing, as a form of social investment. A particular focus is dedicated to the specificity of the Italian reform of social enterprise and impact investments. But the analysis also considers more general theoretical aspects such as the impact with the legal principle of “ability to pay” and the protection of competition.