Tax systems: adaptability and resilience during a global pandemic

Abstract

The tax system is traditionally understood as being geared primarily, but not exclusively, towards the raising of revenues. Taxes perform distributive and regulatory roles for instance. Furthermore, the tax system can also be engaged for the purpose of providing stability in times of uncertainty and for providing key information to government so that its policies (whether economic, social, health, environmental and so on) can be pursued. With its multivarious capabilities, it would be of little surprise to learn that governments turned to the tax system during the COVID-19 pandemic in order to alleviate the economic consequences of the emergency. The paper sets out to investigate the ways the tax system was used in response to the pandemic. It narrows in on two key findings: that the tax system was instrumental in providing stability and also in providing salient information for government use. A picture of the tax system as being adaptable and resilient is painted. But the key findings of the paper are not made without reservation.