Copyright

Demetrio Guzzardi, Elisa Palagi, Tommaso Faccio, and Andrea Roventini

Published On

2023-12-12

Page Range

pp. 169–190

Language

  • English

Print Length

24 pages

10. In Search of Lost Time

An Ensemble of Policies to Restore Fiscal Progressivity and Address the Climate Challenge

Chapter of: Financing Investment in Times of High Public Debt: 2023 European Public Investment Outlook(pp. 169–190)
The European Union needs to raise significant resources to finance a just green transition. At the same time, there is a widespread fiscal regressivity in many EU countries. Indeed, recent empirical evidence shows that the tax systems of many EU members are characterised by low degrees of progressivity, with high-income groups paying lower effective tax rates vis-à-vis middle- and low-income classes. In order to jointly tackle such issues, we propose an ensemble of tax policies at the EU level that are grounded on recent proposals advanced in the literature. This fiscal reform includes a wealth tax targeting the top 1% of wealth holders, a tax on unrealised capital gains, and an increase of the minimum corporate tax. Our first estimates suggest that these measures can generate substantial yearly revenues in the order of 1.9%–2.9% of EU GDP. Such resources can contribute to the funding of the additional climate mitigation and adaptation policies required to tackle the climate emergency, while reducing inequality, thus contributing to put EU economies on sustainable and inclusive growth pathways.

Contributors

Demetrio Guzzardi

(author)
PhD Student in Economics at Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5315-0756

Demetrio Guzzardi Demetrio Guzzardi is a PhD student in Economics at Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna in Pisa. He obtained his Master’s degree in Economics from the Paris School of Economics and Sorbonne in Paris. Previously, he worked at the Economic Department of the OECD and the Directorate for Employment and Social Inclusion of the European Commission. He is also a Fellow of the World Inequality Lab (WIL) of the Paris School of Economics. His current research focuses on the estimation of income and wealth distribution, fiscal policies, and the possible role of climate change on shaping inequality.

Elisa Palagi

(author)
Postdoctoral Researcher at Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies
Fellow of the World Inequality Lab at Paris School of Economics

Elisa Palagi is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Institute of Economics at Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna in Pisa, Italy. She is also a Fellow of the World Inequality Lab (WIL) of the Paris School of Economics. She holds a PhD in Economics from Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna. Her research interests focus on economic inequality, in particular its relation with macroeconomic dynamics and climate change, both from an empirical and a theoretical point of view through the development of agent-based models. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9023-8308

Tommaso Faccio

(author)
Lecturer in Accounting at Nottingham University Business School at University of Nottingham
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5801-1509

Tommaso Faccio is a lecturer in Accounting at Nottingham University Business School. He is a chartered accountant (ICAS) and his research interests include international tax, transfer pricing, tax treaties, and tax avoidance. Until July 2014, he was a Transfer Pricing Senior Manager in the Deloitte LLP International Tax team and has significant experience advising multinationals on complex international tax issues, particularly in the area of Transfer Pricing and Permanent Establishment, first at Ernst and Young LLP and then at Deloitte LLP. Tommaso is a guest lecturer at the Berlin School of Economics and Law.

Andrea Roventini

(author)
Full Professor of Economics at the Institute of Economics at Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies
Research Fellow at OFCE at Sciences Po, Paris
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5518-3084

Andrea Roventini is a full professor of economics at the Institute of Economics of Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna and a research fellow at OFCE, Sciences Po (Paris). He holds a PhD in Economics and Management from Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna. His main research interests include complex system analysis, agent-based computational economics, business cycles, economic growth, and the effects of monetary, fiscal, technology, innovation, and climate-change policies. He is currently the unit leader and coordinator of the EEIST project (https://eeist.co.uk) financed by the UK’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF). He has been the principal investigator and consortium coordinator of the Horizon 2020 GROWINPRO project (http://www.growinpro.eu), and he has been involved in the projects IMPRESSIONS, DOLFINS, and ISIGrowth financed by the European Commission. He is editor of Industrial and Corporate Chance–Macro Economics and Development and advisory editor of the Journal of Evolutionary Economics.