On responsibility and tax policy: an exploration based on Ireland and Malawi

The theme of the 2015 Social Justice Ireland conference, “Measuring Up? Ireland’s progress: past, present and future,” questions both the concept of progress and metrics of its measurement. This paper explores these issues in the context of policy coherence, framing the need to assess inter-related fiscal issues together as one of responsibility in policy formation. Specifically, it looks at the potential impact of a country’s tax policies on the welfare of people in other countries, and the way in which tax policy may come into conflict with other stated policies of the state. Malawi is chosen because it illustrates the kind of fiscal fragility faced by developing countries, and because it is a priority country for Irish Aid, and one in which Irish overseas Aid has achieved considerable positive impact. Ireland as a country has engaged very successfully in tax competition, potentially leading to a situation where its tax policies could become incoherent with its policies on overseas development aid (ODA). The way in which those tax policies have developed is examined in some detail in the context of the literature on policy incoherence