"The idea of an interdisciplinary taxation centre and the need for it have existed for many years, and several of us researchers were given the opportunity to concretize our thoughts—especially regarding how digitalization affects the tax system—within the framework of a Pufendorf project. Now, we want to follow through and take an interdisciplinary approach together with researchers from the Faculty of Law, LTH (Faculty of Engineering), and us from LUSEM. But we will also bring in researchers from other universities in Sweden and internationally," says Åsa Hansson, Associate Professor in Economics.
Together with, Cécile Brokelind, Professor of Commercial Law, Amanda Sonnerfeldt, Senior Lecturer in Accounting and Finance, and Mariya Senyk, Senior Lecturer in Law, among others, Åsa is firmly committed to launching the centre, and at present, several researchers are working to secure its funding.
Today’s geopolitical situation—with President Trump’s actions, Sweden’s NATO membership requiring increased defense spending, the need to maintain Swedish competitiveness, and the technological transformation combined with rising pressure on financing many public welfare services—makes taxation research more important than it has been in a very long time.
“Sweden’s productivity has declined, and the government has established a Productivity Commission to review how productivity can be strengthened. In that context, taxes are important factors. We’re seeing growing industrial support, often in the form of tax breaks. How effective is this, and how should it be designed? Another important aspect is that taxing authority has moved to the international level (EU, OECD, and the UN), and in that work, Sweden needs to be proactive and influence developments. Since these are highly complex issues, expertise and knowledge from multiple fields are required, and we need to move away from silo thinking. This is the kind of expertise and knowledge we aim to contribute,” adds Åsa Hansson.
She notes that there is a need to gather competencies in order to contribute with policy-relevant research. Economists, business scholars, lawyers, and engineers need to collaborate to find ways forward for Sweden, as well as in ways relevant to other countries. The Taxation Centre will likely start on a small scale, but one of the goals is to build an interdisciplinary environment with PhD students, postdocs, and offer education that meets the demand for specific competencies.
The development of cryptocurrencies, AI, digitalization, and automation brings new opportunities but also challenges today’s tax system. In summary, there is much work ahead for the centre.