Conference Agenda

In recent years, rapid technological advancements have significantly reshaped the landscape of taxation. These changes are transforming how tax systems operate, how policies are implemented, and how tax administrations engage with taxpayers. The relationship between tax and technology is multifaceted, offering substantial opportunities alongside notable challenges. Innovations such as digital platforms, automation, big data, and artificial intelligence (AI) are driving a shift toward more efficient, data-driven, and real-time tax administration. These technologies have the potential to enhance compliance, reduce administrative burdens, and provide more responsive and personalized services for taxpayers. However, they also introduce concerns around data privacy, cybersecurity, algorithmic bias, and the reliability of AI-generated insights. Beyond operational improvements, these advancements influence the structure, strategy, and accountability of tax administrations. As governments worldwide adapt to this digital transformation, it is crucial to critically evaluate both the benefits of more intelligent tax administration and the risks of unintended consequences. The primary challenge is to implement and manage these technologies in ways that strengthen trust, transparency, and the overall integrity of the tax system.

This paper aims to examine the technological evolution in taxation, focusing on how advancements in technology have influenced tax systems and administrative practices over time. Using a bibliometric analysis of 8,457 documents containing the terms tax, taxation, and technology in the title, abstract, or keywords, published up to the end of 2024 and indexed in the Scopus database, the study applies both established and innovative bibliometric approaches with Python software. To complement the quantitative analysis, a qualitative content analysis of the most relevant abstracts is conducted, offering deeper insights into thematic developments and conceptual trends at the intersection of taxation and technology.

Preliminary findings indicate a sharp increase in scientific output in recent years, with the United States leading in overall impact and China demonstrating significant recent research activity. The results highlight a progressive technological transformation across core tax administration functions. This transformation begins with the adoption of foundational digital tools such as digital platforms and electronic tax filing systems, enhancing taxpayer registration, service delivery, and return processing through improved accessibility, accuracy, and administrative efficiency. Digital platforms are central to facilitating interactions between tax authorities and taxpayers, with features like online filing and self-service portals streamlining processes. As digitalization advances, emerging technologies like blockchain are increasingly applied to secure taxpayer registration, manage land records, and ensure transparency in tax audits. In tax collection and risk management, real-time reporting and advanced analytics support data-driven decision-making. Artificial intelligence, at the forefront of this evolution, is explored for automating audits, detecting fraud, and conducting predictive risk assessments. This transition from basic digital tools to AI-driven solutions exemplifies how technology is reshaping tax administration into a more efficient, transparent, and intelligent system.

The German grant system knows hundreds of government to private as well as government to government grants and is regarded as being highly complex (PD and DST, 2021). Over the course of the years, reforms tried to target the issue from different angles, for example by downscaling the requirements for the common proof of use, by bundling of similar programmes, by the shift to lump sums instead of actual cost grants or – quite recently – by the implementation of budgets which recipients can freely allocate within a specific field. With a focus on government to government grants, this development not only leads to the question of consequences for the intergovernmental financial architecture (Scharpf 1976 and 1985). Furthermore, it sparks a discussion about accountability and an increasing demand for control versus state and local government autonomy.

In our contribution, we outline the structure and most recent reform developments in the German grant system. We exemplify the latter by three case studies covering a) the bundling of similar programs on the federal level, b) the approach of social grant budgets in the German state of Saxony and c) the realization of simplified proof of use procedures within a specific urban development programme in North Rhine-Westphalia.

We embed the general phenomenon into the broader theory of fiscal federalism (e.g. Oates, 1999) and conceptualize the complexities and reform approaches with the help of well-described implementation challenges such as control deficits, information asymmetries or lack of administrative capacity of recipients (May, 2013; Knill and Tosun, 2015). We use these challenges as well as the set of discussed solutions, which comprises measures such as a precise definition of requirements regarding the recipients‘ project management, impact evaluation or proof of use, to define criteria for the case studies. This framework allows us to address the above-mentioned questions of accountability and oversight in a systematic manner.

In our contribution, we additionally discuss the relevance of the two accounting systems cameralistics and double-entry accounting (both applied at various federal levels in Germany) for the outlined grant reforms (e.g. Niebur 2019). We also strive to highlight the cross-country relevance of these changing vertical fiscal interactions by taking a cursory look at similar discussions abroad (Gloazzo, 2020; GAO, 2023; Bundesrechnungshof, 2021). The article will conclude with policy recommendations regarding the future reform path for the German grant system.