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This open access book addresses critical questions surrounding attitudes to tax and tax compliance through the lens of ‘fiscal belonging’. It seeks to go beyond traditional approaches within tax scholarship that have focused exclusively on quantitative research and rigid behavioural assumptions, instead demonstrating the value of qualitative approaches to tax research. To do this, the book focuses specifically on the UK context and the experience of immigrants to the UK. It explores how a sense of societal belonging can inform our understanding of taxation and the potential implications for tax policy.
The book brings together a wealth of ethnographic data with a focus on individual case studies that illuminate the many different facets of fiscal belonging, including for example the right to work and access to employment, as well as histories of colonialism and the economic history of certain communities on a national scale. By privileging a nuanced and inclusive approach rooted in individuals’ experience the book makes an argument for the importance of more methodologically diverse understandings of why and how people pay (or don’t pay) tax. Key tax concerns including reciprocity, compliance and administration are all discussed. This open access book will be a valuable addition to the tax literature and essential reading for tax scholars across the social sciences, including economics, law, political science, sociology and anthropology.
Lotta Björklund Larsen holds a PhD in Social Anthropology from Stockholm University and is currently co-investigator in the ESRC funded research project Fiscal Citizenship. Her research on taxation is broadly based in economic, legal, and moral anthropology. “Why we pay tax, why we avoid doing so and how we are made to pay tax” are questions that bring to fore people’s relation to state, community and fellow citizens. Through her ethnographic research she has examined epistemologies that shapes tax compliance engaging with tax authorities, corporate and private taxpayers, as well as tax avoiders.
Lynne Oats is Emeritus Professor of Taxation, University of Exeter. has been a tax academic, teaching and researching taxation in Australia and the UK since 1988. Her research interests focus on taxation as a social and institutional practice, embracing historical and contemporary tax policy both nationally and internationally. Lynne draws on insights from sociology, law and politics in her research and is motivated by curiosity about all things tax related, from stamp duty on newspaper to the taxation of multinationals and everything in between.
List of contents
Chapter 1 Introduction.- Chapter 2 A Topography of Tax Knowledge.- Chapter 3 From Citizenship to Belonging.- Chapter 4 Facets of Fiscal Belonging.- Chapter 5 Fiscal Culture.- Chapter 6 Reciprocity Thick and Thin.- Chapter 7 Conclusion .
About the author
Lotta Björklund Larsen is a Research Fellow at TARC (Tax Administration Research Centre), University of Exeter and an independent researcher. Her research examines the diverse relations between citizens and the state, and she engages with tax authorities, corporate and private taxpayers, as well as tax avoiders.
Lynne Oats is Emeritus Professor of Taxation, University of Exeter. She worked at the Australian Taxation Office between 1978 and 1988 and has been a tax academic, teaching and researching taxation in Australia and the UK since 1988. Her research interests focus on taxation as a social and institutional practice, embracing historical and contemporary tax policy both nationally and internationally.
Summary
This book addresses critical questions surrounding attitudes to tax and tax compliance through the lens of ‘fiscal belonging’. It seeks to go beyond traditional approaches within tax scholarship that have focused exclusively on quantitative research and rigid behavioural assumptions, instead demonstrating the value of qualitative approaches to tax research. To do this, the book focuses specifically on the UK context and the experience of immigrants to the UK. It explores how a sense of societal belonging can inform our understanding of taxation and the potential implications for tax policy.
This open access book addresses critical questions surrounding attitudes to tax and tax compliance through the lens of ‘fiscal belonging’. It seeks to go beyond traditional approaches within tax scholarship that have focused exclusively on quantitative research and rigid behavioural assumptions, instead demonstrating the value of qualitative approaches to tax research. To do this, the book focuses specifically on the UK context and the experience of immigrants to the UK. It explores how a sense of societal belonging can inform our understanding of taxation and the potential implications for tax policy.
The book brings together a wealth of ethnographic data with a focus on individual case studies that illuminate the many different facets of fiscal belonging, including for example the right to work and access to employment, as well as histories of colonialism and the economic history of certain communities on a national scale. By privileging a nuanced and inclusive approach rooted in individuals’ experience the book makes an argument for the importance of more methodologically diverse understandings of why and how people pay (or don’t pay) tax. Key tax concerns including reciprocity, compliance and administration are all discussed. This open access book will be a valuable addition to the tax literature and essential reading for tax scholars across the social sciences, including economics, law, political science, sociology and anthropology.
