Richard Croneberg

I am since 2021 a Doctor of Law in Tax Law and currently work as an Associate Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Law, Lund University. The research that I have conducted in recent years relates to how income tax rules are constructed, how they can be circumvented and how judges, decision-makers and other stakeholders have tried to counteract tax avoidance in both a national and international context. I am currently engaged in several international networks such as the Danish-Swedish Tax Law Network, the Nordic Tax Research Network, the International Fiscal Association and have conducted regular research visits to Denmark. Since 2019, I am also active in the tax law research environment (FIRE) at the University of Copenhagen.

One of my more substantial research contributions is my dissertation, Att motverka skatteflykt (Combating Corporate Tax Avoidance), in which I examined how the structure and functioning of the European Union’s (EU) introduced General Anti-Avoidance Rule (GAAR) affects the concept of tax avoidance in its member states. Through a comparative study of the Swedish and Danish approach to combating corporate tax avoidance, the dissertation focuses on both the pre-existing provisions against tax avoidance and the rules following the implementation of the Anti-Tax Avoidance Directive’s GAAR as established in Article 6. The thesis has been well received and has had an impact in both a national and a Nordic context, and in 2022 I was awarded both King Oscar II Foundation's scholarship for the best thesis in the field of law and the Emil Heijne Foundation's award for valuable contributions to legal research.

I am currently working on two tax law related research projects.

In the first one, ‘To measure is (only) to know? - A Critical Study of the Consumer Price Index’s Normative effects on Swedish Income Taxation’, which is carried out with a generous grant from the TOR/SkatteNytt Foundation, I discuss how the legal solutions based on indexation relates to issues of legitimacy and rule of law. Through a detailed assessment and systematisation of the taxes and fees that are affected by the CPI, I discuss whether this legislative solution is appropriate in an economy with rising prices, given that the adjustment resulting from the said indexation leave little room for manoeuvrability in the budget now and in the foreseeable future. Consequently, the study focuses on issues relating to democratic legitimacy, accountability and parliamentary control of the decision-making processes leading to an adjustment of the said price base amount.

In the second project, ‘AI and Automation: Challenges and Opportunities for the Dual Income Tax System’, which is funded by my research position at the Faculty of Law, I investigate how the disruptive forces arising from AI can be managed within the framework of a dual income tax system. The project is based on the assumption that we are facing a socially transformative structural change, where increased automation and robotisation, driven by AI, changes the industrial value chain, our working life and eventually our taxation system. In a dual income tax system, where the tax burden is distributed between labour and capital, a structural change in the labour market would have far-reaching consequences for government revenues. In Sweden alone, where the earned income of natural persons accounts for almost 60% of total taxes or 25.6% of GDP, a minor restructuring of the labour market in a short period of time would risk undermining government finances, which, in addition to the tax on labour, would also see payments of social security contributions decrease and payments from transfer systems increase.  Even though the new AI technology would simultaneously create new digital services and products, reducing production and distribution costs in a digitalised economy, the tax loss on labour would have far-reaching consequences in a transitional period. By researching and further evaluating the implications and consequences of this development, the project contributes to meeting tomorrow's challenges today.

In addition to the aforementioned research project, I have been a member of the academic tax law journal ‘SkatteNytts’ editorial committee since 2021, where I have also been a member of the editorial board since the turn of the year. In addition to the ongoing editorial work, I am since mid-year 2022 the editor of the journal's case law review.

I have a long experience of teaching tax law, mainly relating to the direct taxation of individuals and companies. I teach in Swedish and English in EU tax law and international tax law at an undergraduate and graduate level within both the Faculty of Law and the School of Economics' various courses. I am the course director for the undergraduate course in tax law and I actively participate in the course director's meetings and seminars.

Based on my positive experiences of course development and commitment to the faculty's collaborative environments, I have during the last year also had the opportunity to work with the faculty's collaborative project on so-called "Juridiklabb", where representatives from the court, the Swedish Tax Agency and consulting firms are involved in the education to provide a broad picture of how a professional lawyer works on a daily basis.

Encouragingly, these efforts have been recognised over the years. Already after my first few years as a student teacher, my pedagogical efforts as a student teacher on the law programme were recognised by the alumni society Sällskapet Lundajurister in connection with the Faculty of Law's graduation ceremony in 2015. An honour that would not be exceeded until four years later by Juridiska föreningen, when they awarded me the union's pedagogical prize in 2019.

The need to contribute to our communities and surrounding society is a central part of the university's 'raison d'être'. Without communicating the knowledge that results in new research findings and scientific contributions on a daily basis, the university would not only lose its position as an educational hub, but also neglect its role as a knowledge-transmitting institution and central pillar of our society. The importance of actively participating in the public debate by engaging in current political issues, representing the university and arranging meeting places for authorities, business and academia, has therefore be front and centre in my work.

One of the collaborative environments that I have devoted the most time to during my years at the Lund University is Lund Tax Academy (Lunds skatteakademi). The Lund Tax Academy is a collective of tax law researchers operating within the joint research and teaching environment in tax law shared between the Faculty of Law and the Department of Commercial Law, School of Economics. The purpose of the collaboration environment is to stimulate and strengthen collaboration between academia and society in the Öresund region, which I have contributed to during my years in the academy by organising and inviting to the academy's appreciated seminar series. Today, it is a natural meeting place for both private and public actors where issues of tax law and economics are discussed together with academics and students.