<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>Tax policy is one way to promote sustainability, and this paper focuses on the role of taxation for SDG 8 on economic growth and decent work. Three basic values for sustainability are identified—equity and equality, environmental protection, and coherence. All these values are important for SDG 8, but they are not easily or naturally combined as there are intermittent tensions among the various values. Equal treatment is important for both efficiency and legitimacy. However, globalization calling for equal treatment across borders may be hard to implement as it requires international agreements. This, in turn, may violate the required local coherence if taxes are more aligned with other countries than with the local context. Environmental taxation will likely play an increasing role in steering economies in a more sustainable way. A crucial issue and a possible challenge is to do that in a way that does not hamper growth.</p>
</abstract>

Tax policy is one way to promote sustainability, and this paper focuses on the role of taxation for SDG 8 on economic growth and decent work. Three basic values for sustainability are identified—equity and equality, environmental protection, and coherence. All these values are important for SDG 8, but they are not easily or naturally combined as there are intermittent tensions among the various values. Equal treatment is important for both efficiency and legitimacy. However, globalization calling for equal treatment across borders may be hard to implement as it requires international agreements. This, in turn, may violate the required local coherence if taxes are more aligned with other countries than with the local context. Environmental taxation will likely play an increasing role in steering economies in a more sustainable way. A crucial issue and a possible challenge is to do that in a way that does not hamper growth.

Attaining decent work and economic growth — what role does taxation play?<xref ref-type="fn" rid="j_ntaxj-2023-0005_fn_001">**</xref>

Nordic Tax Journal

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Attaining decent work and economic growth — what role does taxation play?

Tax policy is one way to promote sustainability, and this paper focuses on the role of taxation for SDG 8 on economic growth and decent work. Three basic...

Attaining decent work and economic growth — what role does taxation play?**

Article Category: Article

Published Online: Apr 22, 2024

Page range: 96 - 110

Received: Dec 16, 2022

Accepted: Feb 21, 2023

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/ntaxj-2023-0005

Keywords
Sustainability, Taxation, International Tax Law, Fairness, Equity, Equality, SDG 8, Decent work, Economic growth

© 2023 Thomas Erhag et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Attaining decent work and economic growth — what role does taxation play?**

Article Category: Article

Published Online: Apr 22, 2024

Page range: 96 - 110

Received: Dec 16, 2022

Accepted: Feb 21, 2023

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/ntaxj-2023-0005

KeywordsSustainability, Taxation, International Tax Law, Fairness, Equity, Equality, SDG 8, Decent work, Economic growth

© 2023 Thomas Erhag et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Keywords
Sustainability, Taxation, International Tax Law, Fairness, Equity, Equality, SDG 8, Decent work, Economic growth