Practising the Nuances of Tax Law Through Interactive Case-Based Learning

The students attending lectures by prof. dr. mr. Diana van Hout are already highly skilled at interpreting the letter of the law. They are Master’s students in Tax Law, on their way to becoming tax specialists in a dynamic and technical field.

The students need to be able to understand, weigh and potentially help shape the balance between the public interest in effective and efficient tax enforcement and the individual’s right to legal protection. This tension between public and private interests gives rise to ethical dilemmas, sometimes with significant consequences (as illustrated by cases such as the Dutch childcare benefits scandal). To help students practise navigating these ethical dilemmas and deepen their understanding of case law, Diana came up with the idea of developing a game.

In the game for the course Formeel Belastingrecht en Ethiek (Formal Tax Law and Ethics), students take on the role of a key figure within the tax authority. They are given both the power and responsibility to make decisions in complex dilemmas. The game, developed in YoScenario, presents an audiovisual description of each dilemma, followed by a choice between two options. There are no strictly right or wrong answers, just as in real life. All dilemmas are based on case law, written by Diana and cleverly connected into one continuous narrative.

At the end of the lecture series, students played the game during a dedicated ‘game lecture’. They first worked through the game individually, keeping track of the reasoning behind their choices. This was followed by a plenary session in which Diana invited students to engage in discussion: Why might option B be preferable to option A, or vice versa? What does the law say? What does your moral compass suggest? What arguments can be made for each perspective? This approach sparked lively and meaningful discussions around the dilemmas, exactly as intended.