The ways that social spending policies are run by fiscal welfare through the tax system remain relatively neglected, while the costs and impact of public expenditure are constantly under scrutiny. Mostly means-enhancing in contrast to much means-tested public spending, the costs of social tax reliefs are little examined, their distributional impact even less so. This article considers what is needed to provide a better basis for the development of robust and flexible policies for establishing, managing and evaluating fiscal welfare that can contribute to building a more open and equal society. Particular attention is given to increasing accountability and assessing tax and public spending activities together when they benefit the same target group; and to reducing inconsistencies of treatment in comparable tax and public schemes.

The provision of taxation relief to support pension savings has become a large and expensive aspect of the welfare state in many countries. Among OECD member states this exceeds $200 billion in revenue forgone each year. Previous research has consistently found this fiscal welfare to have pronounced regressive distributive outcomes. However, little is known about the gendered impact of these fiscal welfare supports, a void this article addresses. Using data for Ireland the article finds that the current structure of fiscal welfare supports notably favours males over females. Nominal contribution levels are higher among males, and males are more likely to be active contributors to pension savings. The associated tax supports are consequently skewed, with two-thirds received by men and one-third by women. This outcome suggests a continuation of the gender earnings gap into retirement and a discontinuity between longevity expectations and tax policy supports for pension provision.

VAT is an important but at the same time long neglected issue in social policy literature. The way in which taxes are levied has important implications for citizens in terms of equity and efficiency effects. Rate diversification is embedded in VAT planning across the EU, which enables Member States to address particular welfare objectives and tackle VAT's regressivity. Nonetheless, for some, this undermines the uniformity and effectiveness of a pan-European VAT system comprised of the so-called ideal single-rate VAT structure which could bring more money into state budgets and, thus, allow for more generous welfare provision. This paper evaluates arguments put forward by both sides, concluding that in times of crisis, where governments might advance VAT streamlining purely in order to deal with deficit constraints instead of fairer redistribution, the regime currently in place is the most pragmatic solution from a pro-welfare perspective.