Skattepolitikken

Skattepolitikken, or tax policy, refers to how a government designs and implements taxation. It covers tax legislation, rates, tax bases, exemptions and deductions, administration, enforcement, and international cooperation on taxation.

Its overarching aims are to raise revenue to fund public services, ensure fiscal stability, and influence economic behavior to promote growth, employment, and equity.

Policy instruments include personal and corporate income taxes, value-added tax or sales taxes, property taxes, capital gains taxes, environmental taxes, and payroll or social contributions. Governments also use tax credits, deductions, exemptions, and preferential regimes to achieve distributional and efficiency goals.

Design concerns include simplicity, neutrality, and fairness; progressivity versus flat tax; base broadening; compliance costs; and administrative capacity. Tax policy often seeks to reduce avoidance through anti-avoidance rules, transfer pricing rules, and international cooperation.

The policy operates in a changing environment shaped by globalization, digitalisation, demographic shifts, and economic cycles. Choices involve trade-offs between revenue adequacy, incentives for work and investment, and social equality. Tax reforms may be gradual or comprehensive and are frequently debated in political contexts.

Skattepolitikken thus represents a core element of public policy, closely linked to welfare states, competitiveness, and sovereignty, with variations across jurisdictions reflecting different constitutional frameworks and political priorities.