The individual income tax does not only affect an individual’s life, but also amounts to a substantial share of revenue. The existing rules on individual income tax liability, however, have been designed for a sedentary population and the increasing mobility renders them outdated. To address this, tax rules need to be reformed, requiring an extrapolation of their underlying principles and functions.
The paper aims to contribute to a reconceptualization of personal income tax liability by analysing the temporal dimension of tax liability. To this end, the paper undertakes a normative analysis and, in doing so, it follows an interdisciplinary approach. Looking beyond the present tax year, it examines how the past and the future affect an individual’s position in society and how this can be taken into account within two fundamental principles of tax liability, i.e. the benefit principle and the ability-to-pay principle.
Firstly, it is explained that the presence does not exist as an isolated slice of time, but is formed by (perceptions of) past and future time. Secondly, it is analysed how tax liability can account for past and future benefits such as education and pensions. Finally, the influence of past and future membership in the tax community is addressed. From these theorised roles of time, suggestions for the design of personal income tax liability are derived.
