A major interdisciplinary conference
Wednesday 2 April 2025 to Friday 4 April 2025
Level 10 Woodward Centre
Melbourne Law School, 185 Pelham Street Carlton
The University of Melbourne
REGISTRATIONS NOW OPEN!
This major conference on Justice and the Tax Base in the 21st Century addresses fundamental issues relating to the current and future tax base and justice in Australia, the United States and globally. We bring together leading experts at the forefront of debates about tax and justice from diverse disciplines including law, economics, history, politics and philosophy, to explores the interconnected tax bases of income, consumption and wealth that form the mainstay of most tax systems. The conference will facilitate an exchange of academic experts with policymakers, administrators, community groups and practitioners.
Free Public Events: Thursday 3 April
Keynote presentation by The Hon Dr Andrew Leigh MP
Centre Stage: Tax Reform for Middle Australia
9:00am - 10:00am
Lecture Theatre G08, Ground Floor, Melbourne Law School
Five experts pitch five ideas for fair taxation
Presented by Professors Ingrid Robeyns, Liam Murphy, Alex Raskolnikov, Miranda Fleischer and Laura Seelkopf
5:30pm - 7:15pm
Lecture Theatre G08, Ground Floor, Melbourne Law School
Confirmed speakers
Confirmed international speakers include:
- Professor Liam Murphy, New York University (Law, Philosophy)
- Professor Alex Raskolnikov, Columbia University (Law)
- Professor Miranda Fleischer, Professor, University of San Diego (Law)
- Professor Dr Laura Seelkopf, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat Munich (Political Science)
- Dr Stefanie Geringer, University of Vienna (Tax Law)
Confirmed Australian speakers include:
- Professor Richard Krever, University of Western Australia (Law)
- Professor Rebecca Millar, University of Sydney (Law)
- Professor Richard Vann, University of Sydney (Law)
- Professor Patrick Emerton, Deakin University (Law, Philosophy)
- Professor Kerrie Sadiq, Queensland University of Technology Business School (Law, Accounting)
- Professor Roger Wilkins, Melbourne University, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research (Economics)
- Professor Miranda Stewart, Melbourne University Law School (Law)
- Associate Professor Daniel Halliday, Melbourne University (Philosophy)
- Associate Professor Kathryn James, Melbourne University (Law)
- Dr Gwilym David Blunt, University of Sydney (Politics, Philosophy and International Affairs)
- Dr Joe Collins, CQ University (Economic History)
Why justice and the tax base?
The 20th century saw the rise of tax systems in developed countries, including Australia, that were capable of financing expansive social expenditures and redistributing market resources. Conference papers will assess the justice and robustness of the tax bases of income, consumption and wealth. In the 21st century, these tax systems face increasing challenges. All three tax bases have been challenged by the fungibility and mobility of income, assets, people and transactions in the global digital economy. These challenges have profound economic, social and political consequences for revenue and justice in the tax system now and into the future.
A century ago, governments came to rely on the progressive income tax which was capable of both raising revenue and achieving redistribution. Today, the redistributive capacity of the income tax has been undermined by reducing tax rates and hollowing out of the tax base through policy change and tax minimisation. The Value-Added Tax (VAT) or Goods and Services Tax (GST) became the dominant form of consumption tax at the end of the 20th century. While also capable of raising significant revenue, its regressivity nearly always results in exclusions to the base and rate variations that hamper its expansion. Wealth taxation has never raised significant revenue and it is sporadic and partial or even in decline, whether the aim is to capture accrued financial wealth, land value or inheritance of assets. Yet today’s growing and unequal wealth holdings demand new tax solutions.
Conference convenors
Funding support
This event is funded by the Australian Research Council with support from New York University School of Law, The University of Melbourne and The University of San Diego, arising from two major grants
- Can and Should we reform the Goods and Services Tax? (DE190100346)
- Sharing the Wealth: Tax and Justice in an Era of Population Ageing and slow growth (DP210100924)