Tax Expenditure Management
A Critical Assessment
Cambridge Tax Law Series

A tax expenditure is a 'tax break' allowed to a taxpayer or group of taxpayers, for example, by way of concession, deduction, deferral or exemption. The tax expenditure concept, as it was first identified, was designed to demonstrate the similarity between direct government spending on the one hand and spending through the tax system on the other. The identification of benefits provided through the tax system as tax expenditures allows analysts to consider the fiscal significance of those parts of the tax system which do not contribute to the primary purpose of raising revenue. Although a seemingly simple concept, it has generated a range of complex definitional and practical issues, and this book identifies and critically assesses the controversial aspects of tax expenditure and tax expenditure management.

1. Introduction; 2. The tax expenditures concept; 3. Reporting on tax expenditures; 4. The practical significance of tax expenditures; 5. The politics of tax expenditure management; 6. Managing tax expenditure controversies.

Mark Burton is an Associate Professor in Law at the University of Melbourne and a Fellow of the Taxation Law and Policy Research Institute, Monash University.
Kerrie Sadiq is a Professor at Queensland University of Technology and a Fellow of the Taxation Law and Policy Research Institute, Monash University. She is also a Barrister (Supreme Court of Queensland) and a Chartered Tax Adviser.