Fiscal Forearms

The art of plucking the goose: Chinese urban residents' tax consciousness

“…By studying how citizens' tax consciousness (especially tax fairness compared to public goods received) mediates public goods provision and taxation, on one hand, and public political attitudes, on the other, we contribute to the general debate of fiscal citizenship theory. We find China's public finance system, characterized by its adversarial half‐tax state and a pro‐rich authoritarian welfare state, define a “social and cultural meaning of citizenship” (Mehrotra, 2017) with low tax consciousness, which serves the party‐state's interest of staying power.…”

“…Bargaining over the fiscal constitution establishes the operative definition of the fair revenue production policy, which this paper focuses on. Fiscal citizenship theory also reveals that the taxation practices define the “social and cultural meaning of citizenship” (Mehrotra, 2017), which includes their political and social rights claims.…”

“…According to Mehrotra, “taxation is one of the most widely and persistently experienced relationships that individuals have with their government, it helps define the social and cultural meaning of citizenship. The process of paying taxes helps forge civic identity; it validates the financial responsibilities of being part of a broader political and social community.” (Mehrotra, 2017, p. 258) One micro‐foundation of fiscal citizenship is taxpayers' perception of their tax burdens: when citizens believe their tax burdens are obligatory, they may demand rights for political participation in return. This is axiomatic in democratic regimes, as in the familiar cry “no taxation without representation,” but such demands may destabilize an authoritarian regime, generating a representation dilemma (Zhang, 2017).…”

What is fiscal sociology about? An argument for the category of the tax state

“…Wer diese nicht selbst erledigen möchte, kann eine Steuerberaterin konsultieren -doch in jedem Falle konstituiert er oder sie damit fiskalische Beziehungen, da sich soziales Handeln an der Ordnung des politischen Anstaltsbetriebs Steuerstaat orientiert. Solche Aspekte haben vor allem Arbeiten aus dem Umfeld der New Fiscal Sociology betont (Martin et al 2009;Boll 2011;Mehrotra 2017;Williamson 2017;Schönhärl 2019). Sie dezentralisieren den Steuerstaat, indem sie die normative Qualität eben solcher Alltagshandlungen betonen und sie als Bestandteil eines impliziten sozialen Vertrags herausstellen (Honneth 2010).…”