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Why are citizens in some countries more willing to pay taxes than in other countries? This book examines the history of the relationship between citizens and their states in five countries, (Sweden, Britain, Italy, Romania, and the United States), and demonstrates how and why people in some countries have come to trust the government with their money while in other countries they do not. The book explores the evolution of this relationship in detail, in each case showing how some governments developed the fiscal and technical capacity to tax their citizens fairly and deliver public services efficiently. In short, how and why some countries became more trustworthy than others. The volume concludes by examining the implications of these five cases for developing countries today and the lessons that can be learned.
Author(s): Sven H. Steinmo (editor)
Edition: 1
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Year: 2018
Language: English
Pages: 307
City: Oxford, UK
Tags: tax compliance; Sweden; United States; Britain; Romania; Italy; tax evasion; fairness; developing countries; tax policies; developed countries; history of tax; Income tax
Cover
The Leap of Faith: The Fiscal Foundations of Successful Government in Europe and America
Copyright
Preface and Acknowledgments
Notes
Bibliography
Contents
List of Figures
List of Tables
Notes on Contributors
Part I: Introduction
1: Introduction: The Leap of Faith
The Leap of Faith
The Co-Evolution of Political Culture and Political Institutions
Fiscal Capacity and the Evolution of Modern States
Sweden
Italy
Britain
The USA
Romania
Conclusion: The State as Predator?
Notes
References
Part II: Sweden
2: Getting to Sweden: The Origins of High Compliance in the Swedish Tax State
Introduction
Monitoring Capacity
Role of the Reformed Church
Fiscal Contract
Unique Social Structure
Late Industrial Development and the Structure of Taxation
Conclusion
Notes
References
3: Creating Tax-Compliant Citizens in Sweden: The Role of Social Democracy
Perceptions of Fairness and Tax Compliance
Raising Taxes and Constructing the Welfare State: 1945–70
State capacity to collect taxes
Justifying taxes: the precondition of the welfare state
Defending a Challenged Tax System: The 1970s and 1980s
Questioned state capacity to collect taxes
The logic of fairness and a new understanding of taxes
Technical progress and improved state capacity
Conclusions
References
Primary Sources
Secondary Sources
Part III: Italy
4: Tax Evasion in Italy: A God-Given Right?
Introduction
Tax Evasion in Italy
Religion and Tax Morale
Church and State in Nineteenth-Century Italy
Risorgimento and Anti-Risorgimento
Just Catholic taxation
Reconciliation? State and Church from Mussolini to Democrazia Cristiana
Conclusion
Notes
References
5: Explaining Italian Tax Compliance: A Historical Analysis
The Risorgimento and Italian Politics
The Fascist Period
The First Republic
From the Tax Reform of 1972 to the Present
Discussion and Conclusions
Notes
References
Part IV: United Kingdom
6: Creating Consent: Taxation, War, and Good Government in Britain, 1688–1914
Creating a Fiscal State
Losing Consent
(Re)creating Consent
Consequences and Conclusion
Notes
References
7: “When We Were Just Giving Stuff Away Willy-Nilly”: Historicizing Contemporary British Tax Morale
Introduction
The British Tax State
Historicizing Contemporary Tax Morale: Macro-Level Analysis
Historicizing Contemporary Tax Morale: Micro-Level Analysis
Conclusion
Note
References
Part V: United States
8: The Not-So-Infernal Revenue Service?: Tax Collection, Citizens, and Compliance in the United States from the Eighteenth to the Twentieth Centuries
Introduction
Invisible Tax, Invisible Collection (1776–1913)
Finding Common Ground (1913–1941)
Withholding, Businessmen, and Mass Consent (1941–1960)
Chain Reaction, Eroding Consent (1970–2010)
Conclusion
Notes
References
9: Seeing Taxation in the Mid-Twentieth Century: US Tax Compliance
A Visionary Notion
Legibility for Citizens
Tax Evasion in the 1930s
Social Security
The Voluntary Regime
The Quest for Legitimacy
Legitimacy of Mass Income Tax
Making Tax Payments Less Voluntary
The Postwar Period
Conclusion
Notes
References
Part VI: Romania
10: Tax Collection without Consent: State-Building in Romania
Why Use Historical Analysis in the Romanian Case Study?
Legitimacy and Social Expectations on Redistribution
Taxes, intermediaries, and bureaucratic genesis
The Church as a redistribution agent
The Romanian Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia: Fiscal Responsibilities and Payment Mechanisms
Periphery status and contractual legitimacy
Tax collectors and duties owed
Formal and informal systems of payment
Transylvania and the Early Development of Administrative Capacity
Collection and redistribution
Duties owed and resources
Concluding Remarks
Notes
References
11: Willing to Pay? The Politics of Engendering Faith in the Post-Communist Romanian Tax System
The Puzzle
Path Dependencies
The Unfinished Post-Communist Fiscal Contract
The Welfare State and Inequality
Conclusions
Notes
References
Part VII: Conclusion
12: Taxation and Consent: Implications for Developing Nations
So What?
Strong States and Successful Societies
Promoting positive social norms
Building a sense of identity and/or purpose
Building Fiscal Legitimacy
Lessons Learned
Monitoring
Enforcement
Equity/fairness
Recommendations for Policies
Conclusion
Notes
References
Name Index
Subject Index
