1.
TAX POLICY & GENDER
EQUALITY
Alexander Pick, Centre for Tax Policy and Administration
23 September 2022
Sixth Annual Meeting of the OECD Gender Budgeting Network

2.
Ensuring gender equality is a human right and a priority for most
governments…
It also has strong implications for economic growth and the
COVID-19 recovery.
Tax policy can impact gender equality directly or indirectly…
…through its impact on incomes, incentives for labour-force
participation, entrepreneurship, consumption and wealth decisions
Tax policy and gender equality: why does it matter?
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3.
has highlighted the impact
of taxation on incentives
for second earners to
work…
…as well as the impact of
COVID-19 on gender
equality and taxes...
…the representation of
women in tax
administrations, via the
FTA’s Gender Balance
Network
… and women’s
leadership in tax
transparency via the pilot
programme.
Gender equality is a core part of designing
inclusive and equitable tax systems
• To date, the Centre for Tax Policy & Administration:
• Two reports released in March 2022:
- Tax Policy and Gender Equality: A Stocktake of Country Approaches
- Taxation of Part-Time Work in OECD Countries
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4.
• First cross-country analysis of national approaches to tax policy
and gender equality, approved by the Inclusive Framework in January
2022
• Covers 43 countries from the G20, the OECD and beyond
• Presented to the G20 Finance Ministers in February 2022
Tax Policy and Gender Equality: A stocktake of
country approaches
Priorities for tax policy
and gender equality
Explicit & implicit
biases
Policy development
process and gender
budgeting
Tax compliance and
administration
Data on gender and
Taxation available for
use in analysis
Country priorities and
next steps
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5.
• Countries know that their tax mix has implications for gender equity
- Just over half the sample believe their tax mix is gender neutral; among the rest,
some saw their tax mix as enhancing equity while others thought the opposite
• One third of countries routinely assess tax policies for gender
impacts, but guidance and clear policy objectives are less commonly
available
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Gender considerations in tax policy design
Very important Important Somewhat important Of little importance Of no importance N/A
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
How prominent are gender considerations in tax policy design in your country?

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Reforming tax systems for gender equality
• More than half of countries covered (22) have implemented tax reforms with
gender equity as a key rationale.
• Measures include:
- Enhanced tax credits for mothers (ISR)
- Introduction of individual taxation of labour income (NOR, SWE)
- Reduced VAT rates for feminine hygiene products (BEL, GBR, FRA, ISL, KEN, MEX,
ZAF)
• Other reform examples
- ARG: Inclusion of gender considerations into tax policy design to reduce existing
biases.
- URY: Sexual and Reproductive Health Law to ensure equal rights to the whole
population

7.
• The pandemic’s impact on the informal economy had gender
implications
- 56% of the total workforce is in the informal sector (IDN)
- Women tend to be employed in the lowest-paid jobs of the informal economy,
notably domestic workers (ARG)
• Tax policy measures in response to COVID-19 were assessed for
gender impacts in 11 countries
- ARG implemented measures designed to protect women, non-binary
employees and other vulnerable groups in the workplace
- AUS undertook a gender analysis of extending the low and middle-income tax
offset in 2021/22
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Gendered impact of COVID-19

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Availability of gender disaggregated data
24
7
10
18 17
9
9
22
19
8
7
11
5
8 8
11
6
9
5 6 6 6
13 14
0
10
20
30
40
Incomes Consumption Property & wealth
ownership
Participation in
businesses
Labour-force
participation
Other disaggregated
data
Yes No Uncertain No response
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• The gender implications of tax administration and compliance are
rarely assessed and data to support this analysis are rare
• Few countries have made amendments to the tax administration process
with gender needs in mind (ARG, FRA, IDN, ISR) or run gender-based
taxpayer awareness campaigns (ARG, CAN, IDN, NZL, USA)
• The fact that few countries are conducting analysis may reflect the lack of
data, or that the impact of tax compliance and administration by gender has
not yet emerged as a priority area in many countries
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Tax compliance and administration

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Typology of implicit gender bias in tax policy
Consumption
Differences in behaviour may affect the distribution of income between men
and women and between paid and unpaid work
Social roles
Women tend to be more involved in childcare than men, leading to some
tax provisions benefitting women more in practice
Income levels On average, men earn higher incomes than women
Nature of income On average, men earn more capital income than women, so preferential
taxation of capital can create a risk of bias in favour of men
Fiscal unit Taxing households rather than individuals can create implicit biases
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Explicit bias which
worsens gender
inequalities:
Remove
Implicit bias which
worsens gender
inequalities:
Reconsider
Explicit bias which
reduces gender
inequalities:
Evaluate
Implicit bias which
reduces gender
inequalities:
Promote
How to respond to gender biases in tax systems?
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• New paper adapts the Taxing Wages model
to include part-time workers
• Includes gender-disaggregated data for 27
countries in 2018/19
• Share of part-time work in total employment
has risen across the OECD
• Women are far more likely to work part-time
than men in all OECD countries…
• … and when they do so, they earn lower
hourly wages in almost every country
• Tax and benefit systems reduce the gender
income gap but create disincentives
Taxation of part-time work in OECD countries
Prevalence of part-time work
(OECD)
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Men working part-time have higher hourly wages
than women in most OECD countries
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Average hourly gross wages in part-time employment by gender
As % of total average hourly part-time wage

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Tax and transfer systems reduce gender income
inequalities in part-time employment
Post-tax reduction in gender wage gap, as % of pre-tax gender wage gap
Note: Part-time gender wage and income gaps are calculated for a single part-time worker working 20 hours per week, without children.
Black dots denote countries in which the average hourly wage in part-time employment is higher for women than for men.

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Tax systems often disincentivise moving from part-time
to full-time work, especially for second earners
Marginal effective tax rates for single and second earner part-time workers

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Building on the two reports to:
 Identify best practices for reducing gender
biases within tax systems
 Consider when and whether implicit or
explicit bias should be introduced to
improve gender equity
 Further analyse labour tax incentives –
particularly around tax credits and
allowances, and the impact of
progressivity
Where to next?
10
9
8
6
5
2
0
No. of responses
PIT credits and allowances
Explicit bias to reduce gender
inequity
PIT progressivity
CIT, incl. incentives; tax
administration
Second earners, wealth &
inheritance taxes
Excises & trade taxes
SSCs, capital income, SMEs,
tax compliance, VAT/GST
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THANK YOU
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Alexander.Pick@oecd.org