Acta Oeconomica, Vol. 67 (S), pp. 79–96 (2017) DOI: 10.1556/032.2017.67.S.7 THE IMPACT OF EXPERTS ON TAX POLICY IN POST-WAR BRITAIN AND SWEDEN Per F. ANDERSSON During the decades after World War II, countries began shifting taxation from income to con- sumption. This shift has been associated with an expanding welfare state and left-wing dominance. However, the pattern is far from uniform and while some left-wing governments indeed expanded consumption taxation, others did not. This paper seeks to explain why, by exploring how experts infl uenced post-war tax policy in Britain and Sweden. Experts infl uence is crucial when explaining how the left began to see consumption tax not as a threat but as an opportunity. Interestingly, the infl uence of experts such as Nicholas Kaldor in Britain was different from the impact of Swedish experts (e.g. Gösta Rehn). I make the argument that the impact of expert advice is contingent on the political risks facing governments. The low risks facing the Swedish Left made it more amenable to the advantages of broad-based sales taxes, while the high-risk environment in Britain made Labour reject these ideas. Keywords: taxation, expert infl uence, economic history, political economy JEL classifi cation indices: H20, H23, H61, N44 Per F. Andersson, Doctoral student at the Department of Political Science, Lund University, Swe- den. E-mail:
[email protected] 0001-6373 © 2017 Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest 80 PER F. ANDERSSON 1. INTRODUCTION Parties to the Left have traditionally favoured progressive taxes on income and wealth over regressive taxes on consumption.1 However, during the decades fol- lowing World War II, this attitude changed, and countries with a strong Left be- came associated with a heavy reliance on consumption taxes (e.g.