This policy brief examines the dominant framework for thinking about gender and taxation and argues that it has run its course. Most existing evidence is based on the implicit and explicit bias framework developed in the mid-1990s, which the authors credit with promoting research in the area and with tax reform to address gender biases, while arguing that the framework has now increasingly outlived its usefulness for guiding policy research.

The authors contend that the framework was found to be lacking in specific regulations or provisions in tax law that treat men and women differently, while implicit forms of gender bias relate to provisions that have different impacts on men and women because of underlying and systemic gendered social norms and economic roles. They propose an alternative approach that starts with a clear focus on the policy goal of gender equality, from the perspective of a broader feminist fiscal agenda, and that backs a progressive tax policy and administrative reform agenda generating sufficient revenue to fund policies for gender equality while also pursuing tax equity.