The Taxation of Pensions Book Explores Pension Tax Policies

The *Taxation of Pensions* book was released by MIT Press in 2018 and spans 508 pages. It gathers 15 papers from a CESifo workshop, contributed by 25 scholars from research institutes in Munich, Australia and the University of New South Wales.

The authors identify three potential tax points in a pension scheme: contributions paid by employees or employers, investment earnings of the pension fund, and benefits received by retirees. Different regimes such as EET (exempt, exempt, taxed) and TEE (taxed, exempt, exempt) illustrate how countries tax each point. An aging population and cross‑border worker mobility increase the complexity of pension tax policy.

The volume serves as a guide for policymakers and researchers shaping pension reforms, especially in jurisdictions facing demographic ageing. It also outlines five research priorities, including consumption‑based income tax analysis and the impact of globalization on pension taxation.