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Tax

Tax and gender

 

Events | Initiatives | Key material

 

Taxes can have important implications for gender equality that require consideration and adaptation by policymakers, particularly in the post-COVID world, where many underlying gender inequities have been exacerbated. It is important that both the direct impacts of tax on gender equity as well as its interaction with underlying social and economic inequalities be considered in order to understand its impact on gender equality. OECD work includes consideration of how taxes affect women’s incentives to participate in the labour market; the potential impact of consumption taxes on women and the distribution of unpaid work; and the presence of informal taxes and user fees in developing economies; together with the institutional and administrative practices that can impact gender equality.

 

Events

OECD Week 2022: The Impact of Tax and Transfer Systems on Gender Equality | 8 June 2022

 

Promoting gender equality in societies is a priority for many governments, not only as a matter of fairness and human rights but also in terms of economic efficiency. Improving the design of tax and transfer systems can contribute to governments’ efforts to reduce gender inequality, increase economic participation and support a sustainable, gender-balanced recovery, with positive effects on economic growth over the long-term. In co-operation with Italy, the OECD hosted a Ministerial panel discussion to explore how governments can ensure that tax and transfer systems are designed to support improved gender equality. It also identified what strategies could be employed to reduce gender gaps in tax policy design, while improving labour-force participation, the use of gender budgeting and the enhanced economic participation of women.

Replay

Speakers:

OECD March on Gender 2022 EN (Square)

OECD March on Gender

The OECD March on Gender campaign is a series of events, workshops, seminars, interviews and networking events – all contributing to empowering the recovery through women's leadership.

 

Breaking the tax bias: Promoting gender equality in taxation | 14 March 2022

Improving gender equality is an issue of fairness, and a priority for most governments. Working towards more inclusive economies in which women fully participate, is also important for economic growth. Tax policy can contribute to gender equality and to governments’ efforts to reduce inequalities. Even in tax systems that do not include explicit gender biases, hidden biases often exist due to the interaction of the tax system with differences in the nature and level of income earned by men and women, consumption decisions and social expectations. This high-level event aims to raise awareness on the importance of the topic, and of doing further work in this area.

 

In tax, gender-blind is not gender-neutral: how tax policy in times of COVID-19 must consider women | 26 March 2021

This session presented the OECD’s framework on gender and discuss the impact of tax on gender, including the role of tax in the COVID recovery, gender and tax policy in developing countries and gender budgeting.

 

Other events 

The Role of Taxation in Achieving Gender Equality | 15 June 2021

Experts from Platform for Collaboration on Tax Partners (IMF, OECD, UN and World Bank), governments, think tanks, academia, and civil society discussed how tax policy and tax and customs administrations can affect gender equality, especially in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, explore advances in data collection and methodology and delve into the possibility of incorporating gender equality initiatives in tax reforms.

 

OECD initiatives

Women leaders in tax transparency

In addition to seeking the gender balance in its activities, the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes launched the Women leaders in tax transparency programme in 2021, which aims at reinforcing gender equality in tax administrations. Twenty-three women tax professionals from 23 different countries have been selected to take part in the 2022 pilot programme.

 

The Gender Balance Network

The OECD Forum on Tax Administration's Gender Balance Network was launched in 2019, to be a catalyst for positive institutional change to improve gender balance in leadership positions. The aim of this Network is to help improve the gender balance across the FTA members by leveraging the more balanced position that already exists in some administrations, and identifying effective policies and practices to promote gender equality.

 

Key material

Reports

book

Taxation of Part-Time Work in the OECD

This working paper presents new calculations of the effective tax rates on part-time work including those for male and female part-time workers and for different household types, based on the OECD’s well-established Taxing Wages models.
book

Tax Policy and Gender Equality: A Stocktake of Country Approaches

This report draws upon input from 43 countries in response to a detailed survey on the issue of gender and tax policy design, and explores the extent to which countries consider and address gender equality in tax policy development and tax administration. The report analyses country perspectives on how and to what extent gender should be taken into account in tax policy and takes stock of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on gender equality in the tax system.

Advancing Gender Balance in the Workforce: A Collective Responsibility

This report was produced by the OECD Forum on Tax Administration (FTA) Gender Balance Network (GBN). It contains examples of initiatives, legislative and administrative, taken by a number of GBN members or their governments to support and enhance gender balance. It provides helpful comparative information, including for the consideration of possible future policies and activities at the domestic level.
book

Taxing Wages 2022

Taxing Wages includes annual modelling of effective tax rates on labour income for different household types provides insights on the tax system incentives for second earners’ labour market participation. The 2022 edition was released in May.

Videos

Breaking the gender tax bias

Improving gender equality is an issue of fairness, and a priority for most governments. Working towards more inclusive economies, in which women fully participate, is also important for economic growth. Tax policy can contribute to gender equality, and to governments’ efforts to reduce inequalities. Even in tax systems that do not include explicit gender biases, hidden biases often exist due to the interaction of the tax system with differences in the nature and level of income earned by men and women, consumption decisions and social expectations. New OECD research, Tax Policy on Gender Equality: A Stocktake of Country Approaches explores the extent to which countries consider and address gender equality in tax policy development and tax administration.

 

 

Gender balance in tax administrations

Naomi Ferguson, Commissioner of Inland Revenue New Zealand and Chair of the OECD Forum on Tax Administration's Gender Balance Network (FTA GBN), speaks to Grace Perez-Navarro of the OECD Centre for Tax Policy and Administration. The conversation covers Naomi’s career as a woman in tax administration, the main considerations for successful gender balance practices, the work of the FTA GBN and the impacts of COVID-19 on gender balance issues.

Tax and gender: Releasing potential and promoting equality

Understanding the gender impacts of tax policy and tax administration is more critical now than ever. In this video, we reflect on how men and women face different socioeconomic realities, and how tax systems may affect them in different ways. Even where tax systems seems neutral, it can impact men and women differently.

 Blog posts

 

Further information

 

Related Documents