Tax Conversations

The 20th century will probably be regarded as a watershed in the history of taxation. The first half of the century was characterised by numerous changes to tax theory and practice that alone probably outstripped those of the previous millennium. But these developments are modest when viewed against the barrage of competing theoretical views and technical analyses of tax policy in the century's last five decades, let alone the avalanche of legislation, regulations, rulings, tax commissions, etc., that marked, first, the post-war growth of the welfare state and, second, the growing internationalisation of world commerce and the ensuing competition for economic advantages. The expert papers in Tax Conversations review the principal themes dominating tax debate and tax reform at the end of the century. Together, they seek to explain how these issues have evolved, their current implications, and their possible or probable directions into the next century. The conversations analyse these elements of the tax debate in order to give meaning to their past and to assess the prospects for their futures. The papers in this volume are presented in honour of John G. Head, a scholar whose work has done much to educate tax theorists and those implementing policy, and considered by many to be his generation's leading figure in Australian public finance.