The Taxation of Pensions

Policy makers and academic researchers have been preoccupied in recent decades with the design of pension schemes and effective pension system reform. Relatively little attention has been given to the taxation of pensions and, more broadly, the provision of retirement income. In this book, experts from a range of countries explore the interconnection. Their contributions are especially timely, given recent demographic and political developments including population aging that lengthens the time between contribution payment and benefit receipt, the mobility of capital and labor brought about by globalization, and the complexity of pension taxation within and between countries.

In shedding light on these issues, the chapters document the various forms of taxation of pension systems; use economic theory to explain both qualitative and quantitative observations; and consider whether the observed interaction of taxation and pensions is efficient. Theoretical overviews are followed by rigorous analyses of pension taxation in specific countries, including Denmark, Sweden, Portugal, Australia, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States.