Tax Policy (LAWS70319)

All countries face the challenge of reforming their tax systems to support effective governments in the global era, to take account of increasingly mobile capital and labour, and to establish effective, fair, simple and sustainable tax systems for the future. Australia recently carried out a major tax review process – the review of Australia’s Future Tax System, commonly known as the Henry Tax Review. Other countries have recently undertaken similar reviews. This subject is taught by Greg Smith, a former member of the Review of Australia’s Future Tax System (2009), and engages with the fundamental fiscal policy issues of today for all levels of government. It will analyse the major tax bases available for governments, the interactions of tax law with the transfer system, the challenge of environmentally sustainable taxes and issues of tax law design, complexity and administration for the future.

Principal topics include:

• Introduction to macroeconomics and fiscal policy
• Introduction to microeconomics and resource allocation policy
• Principles, objectives and main concepts in tax policy formulation
• The social, economic and historical – political contexts of tax policy formulation in Australia
• Major issues in tax reform in Australia, including in relation to fiscal policy and revenue adequacy, the major tax bases at each level of government, interactions within the tax-transfer system and issues of tax policy design cost, complexity and administration.