Idee per un approccio globale ai problemi dello sviluppo sostenibile e della tassazione nell’era del COVID-19

The health emergency caused by the Coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has highlighted the need to understand and face the challenges of contemporary development through a paradigm shift, that is, through the transition from a development paradigm which concerns only some nations or regions of the planet to a global development paradigm. This paper intends to provide some ideas for an ethical and regulatory approach to the problems of sustainable economic development and taxation, showing how the implementation of a green tax revolution inspired by the theoretical principles of the Capabilities Approach could represent the ideal starting point to begin the aforementioned paradigm shift, organize the economic recovery and accelerate the transition towards more sustainable, resilient and inclusive development economic models. In particular, the paper discusses the delicate issue of the admissibility of taxes related to the well-being of individuals and proposes the creation of a global, or at least multilateral, tax system based on the philosophical framework proposed by Sen and Nussbaum, aiming at: 1) limiting the exploitation of the “global commons”; 2) overcome the “energy conflicts”; 3) contrast the economic inequalities and the fuel poverty; 4) strengthen the resilience of economic, financial and welfare systems.