Anthropology and Tax
Ethnographies of Fiscal Relations

This collection of anthropological work on tax explores how fiscal systems produce social lives, values, and normative orders.

Johanna Mugler (Edited by), Miranda Sheild Johansson (Edited by), Robin Smith (Edited by)

9781009254588, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 19 December 2024

388 pages
23.5 x 15.9 x 2.5 cm, 0.71 kg

'This book is a must-read for anthropologists and social scientists interested in taxation. The rich introduction is followed by ethnographic papers from around the world and opens up questions of fiscal matters, including ethics, justifications, compliance and resistance.' Soumhya Venkatesan, Professor of Anthropology, University of Manchester

From the perspective of individual taxpayers to international tax norm negotiators, the anthropologists in this collection explore how taxes shape our world: our social relationships and value regimes, how we exclude and include, the categories we think with, and the way we share with each other. A first of its kind, it presents an anthropological discussion about tax rooted in ethnographic work. It asks fundamental questions such as: what is tax, what is taxable, and what do taxes do? By forwarding multiple perspectives from around the world about fiscal systems and how they are experienced and constituted, Anthropology and Tax reconceptualises tax in society. In doing so, this volume makes an incisive intervention in what might be one of the most important debates of our time – that of fiscal sociality. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Foreword Janet Roitman
Advancing an Anthropology of tax Johanna Mugler, Miranda Sheild Johansson and Robin Smith
1. Becoming the good migrant: how Romanian migrants mobilise taxpayer status Dora-Olivia Vicol
2. The nurturing state: an intimate portrait of becoming a taxpayer in Ghana Anna-Riikka Kauppinen
3. An ecology of payments: taxes, cuotas, and fees in highland Bolivia Miranda Sheild Johansson
4. The Persistence of kindred spirits: tax and values in Istrian distilling Robin Smith
5. Taxation without hegemony: land, fiscal conflicts, and the limits of post-neoliberalism in Ecuador Jeremy Rayner
6. Gambling away fraud: tax and speculative governance in Slovakia Nicolette Makovicky
7. Mottos for a more tax-compliant society: strategies, tax compliance research, and fiscal practices at the Swedish tax agency Lotta Björklund Larsen
8. General knowledge and particular society: taxation as a way of knowing Olly Owen
9. The colonial debris in the digitalisation of tax in Kenya Nimmo Elmi
10. Fiscal citizenship, assimilation, and colonial governance in settler states Kyle Willmott
11. Fundraising in Fiji: taxation, proceduralism, and a moral economy of accountability Matti Eräsaari
12. Dead zones of tax inspection: the new strategic direction in the Danish tax authority and its consequences for front staff Karen Boll
13. Tax Havens, commodified citizenship, and the production of home in a globalised world Greg Rawlings
14. Sharing beyond the state: International Tax Norm Negotiations at the OECD Johanna Mugler.

Subject Areas: Taxation & duties law [LNU]