Title: Time and Tax: Constitutional Versus Economic Perspectives
Author, co-author: Haslehner, Werner
Abstract: Constitutional and economic perspectives frequently differ, including with respect to taxation. Constitutional scholars, on the one hand, typically focus on questions of justice with respect to a particular policy, together with the legal and institutional structures that aim to implement that policy, and thus look at individual rights, equity, the balance ofpowers and the proportionate consideration of diverse interests. Economists, on the other hand, are mainly interested in a particular policy's economic efficiency: they zoom in on its trade-offs, incentives, and consequences for economic welfare as a whole. It is necessary to combine both views for a holistic understanding of legal regulations. From both perspectives, it is, ultimately, a policy's practical effects that drive an assessment of its economic efficiency or its fairness. Thus, any constitutional or legal analysis ought to be imbued with a certain level of economic analysis, as justice depends on the actual outcomes of a policy, including its second-order effects. This contribution attempts to inquire the consequences of such approach in three main dimensions of timing taxation: assessment of taxes, collection of taxes, and the transition between different tax rules and systems.
Author, co-author: Haslehner, Werner
Abstract: Constitutional and economic perspectives frequently differ, including with respect to taxation. Constitutional scholars, on the one hand, typically focus on questions of justice with respect to a particular policy, together with the legal and institutional structures that aim to implement that policy, and thus look at individual rights, equity, the balance ofpowers and the proportionate consideration of diverse interests. Economists, on the other hand, are mainly interested in a particular policy's economic efficiency: they zoom in on its trade-offs, incentives, and consequences for economic welfare as a whole. It is necessary to combine both views for a holistic understanding of legal regulations. From both perspectives, it is, ultimately, a policy's practical effects that drive an assessment of its economic efficiency or its fairness. Thus, any constitutional or legal analysis ought to be imbued with a certain level of economic analysis, as justice depends on the actual outcomes of a policy, including its second-order effects. This contribution attempts to inquire the consequences of such approach in three main dimensions of timing taxation: assessment of taxes, collection of taxes, and the transition between different tax rules and systems.