Taxation and State-Building in Developing Countries
Capacity and Consent

Explains why taxation is a vital topic in explaining weak government in the poorer world.

Deborah Brautigam (Edited by), Odd-Helge Fjeldstad (Edited by), Mick Moore (Edited by)

9780521716192, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 10 January 2008

308 pages, 15 tables
22.7 x 15.2 x 1.8 cm, 0.49 kg

'Ranging across continents and political regimes, Brautigam, Fjeldstad, Moore and their colleagues provide lucid, dispassionate analysis of one of the most crucial issues in the contemporary political economy of development. Taxes are the cornerstone of any modern society, but for poor countries the capacity to tax can be the difference between chaos and development. This book skillfully dissects the ways in which global models have failed to serve the interests of poor countries and provides careful suggestions as to what actually works. Policy-makers and scholars alike should be grateful to have such a well-crafted, finely-balanced contribution to a topic too often mired in polemic and ideology.' Peter Evans, University of California, Berkeley

There is a widespread concern that, in some parts of the world, governments are unable to exercise effective authority. When governments fail, more sinister forces thrive: warlords, arms smugglers, narcotics enterprises, kidnap gangs, terrorist networks, armed militias. Why do governments fail? This book explores an old idea that has returned to prominence: that authority, effectiveness, accountability and responsiveness is closely related to the ways in which governments are financed. It matters that governments tax their citizens rather than live from oil revenues and foreign aid, and it matters how they tax them. Taxation stimulates demands for representation, and an effective revenue authority is the central pillar of state capacity. Using case studies from Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America, this book presents and evaluates these arguments, updates theories derived from European history in the light of conditions in contemporary poorer countries, and draws conclusions for policy-makers.

1. Introduction: taxation and state-building in developing countries Deborah Bräutigam
2. Between coercion and contract: competing narratives on taxation and governance Mick Moore
3. Capacity, consent and tax collection in post-communist states Gerald M. Easter
4. Taxation and coercion in rural China Thomas P. Bernstein and Xiaobo Lü
5. Mass taxation and state–society relations in East Africa Odd-Helge Fjeldstad and Ole Therkildsen
6. Contingent capacity: export taxation and state-building in Mauritius Deborah Bräutigam
7. Tax bargaining and nitrate exports: Chile 1880-1930 Carmenza Gallo
8. Associational taxation: a pathway into the informal sector? Anuradha Joshi and Joseph Ayee
9. Rethinking institutional capacity and tax regimes: the case of the sino-foreign salt inspectorate in republican China Julia Strauss
10. Tax reform and state-building in a globalised world Odd-Helge Fjeldstad and Mick Moore.

Subject Areas: Political economy [KCP], Development economics & emerging economies [KCM], Comparative politics [JPB]