Tax Justice and the Political Economy of Global Capitalism, 1945 to the Present

Download or read book Tax Justice and the Political Economy of Global Capitalism, 1945 to the Present written by Jeremy Leaman and published by Berghahn Books. This book was released on 2013-06-01 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tax “justice” has become an increasingly central issue of political debate in many countries, particularly following the cardiac arrest of global financial services in 2008 and the subsequent worldwide slump in trade and production. The evident abuse of tax systems by corporations and rich individuals through tax avoidance schemes and offshore shadow banking is increasingly in the public eye. Above all, the political challenges of recovery and structural reform have raised core issues of burden-sharing and social equity on the agendas of both civil society groups and political elites. Democratic states need tax revenue to fund public goods and combat public “bads” with any degree of legitimacy. The contributions to this book discuss the haphazard evolution of contemporary taxation systems, their contradictory effects in a globalized economy, and the urgency of their reform as a precondition for social justice.