Brandt School's Espresso Talks Kicked-Off

On April 27, Laura Seelkopf kicked off the Espresso Talk series. She highlighted the significance of domestic resource mobilization through modern tax systems and its relevance for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Prof. Seelkopf explained what makes taxes modern, and why it matters when countries introduced such taxes. Together with a several colleagues Prof. Seelkopf coded tax introductions in more than 200 countries, a rich source of information to answer some of the most pertinent questions for the evolution of the modern (tax) state: For example, what role did wars play? Why did countries keep taxes even after post-colonial independence? And to what degree do revenues nowadays depend on decisions made more than 100 years ago? In the questions & answer sessions Prof. Seelkopf also looked at the future: will we see fundamental innovations in tax systems or mainly variations of the existing taxes?

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