No taxation without informational foundation: on the role of legibility in tax state development

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• dc.contributor.author Vom Hau, Matthias
• dc.contributor.author Peres-Cajías, José Alejandro
• dc.contributor.author Soifer, Hillel David
• dc.date.accessioned 2023-11-23T07:54:01Z
• dc.date.available 2023-11-23T07:54:01Z
• dc.date.issued 2023
• dc.description.abstract This article combines cross-national statistical analysis and in-depth historical case studies of Argentina and Chile to explore the relationship between two crucial dimensions of state capacity. We show that information capacity contributes to the development of fiscal capacity. When states have accurate information about their subject populations, territories, and economies, they are more effective at mobilizing revenues. In developing this argument this article makes three broader contributions. First, while existing scholarship either treats distinct dimensions of state capacity as separate entities, or simply assumes that they complement each other, our findings urge scholars to treat state development as sequential and to further investigate how multiple dimensions of state capacity are interrelated. Second, the paper suggests a broader underlying set of mechanisms – economies of scope – which connect these dimensions, and explores them in the specific context of how information capacity facilitates fiscal capacity. Third, we join the scholarship on the importance of societal compliance in the creation of the fiscal state, but with a focus on elite cooperation with the state's information collection efforts, which we show to be crucial to tax state development.
• dc.description.sponsorship We are grateful to Kunal Sen and Antonio Savoia for their continued support and feedback throughout various versions of this paper, and the participants at the UNU-WIDER Fiscal States – The Origins and Development Implications workshop in June 2021 for their insightful comments and suggestions. Our thanks also go to Guillem Amatller for excellent research assistance. The research leading to this paper received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (grant agreement No 864333 – ETHNICGOODS) held by Matthias vom Hau.
• dc.format.mimetype application/pdf
• dc.identifier.citation Vom Hau M, Peres-Cajías JA, Soifer HD. No taxation without informational foundation: on the role of legibility in tax state development. Journal of institutional economics. 2023 Jun;19(3):426-43. DOI: 10.1017/S1744137422000534
• dc.identifier.doi http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S1744137422000534
• dc.identifier.issn 1744-1374
• dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/10230/58362
• dc.language.iso eng
• dc.publisher Cambridge University Press
• dc.relation.ispartof Journal of institutional economics. 2023 Jun;19(3):426-43
• dc.relation.projectID info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/H2020/864333
• dc.rights © UNU-WIDER, 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Millennium Economics Ltd. This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike IGO licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the same Creative Commons licence is included and the original work is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use.
• dc.rights.accessRights info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
• dc.rights.uri http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
• dc.subject.keyword Fiscal capacity
• dc.subject.keyword Information capacity
• dc.subject.keyword Latin America
• dc.subject.keyword Mixed methods
• dc.subject.keyword State capacity
• dc.subject.keyword State formation
• dc.subject.keyword Taxation
• dc.title No taxation without informational foundation: on the role of legibility in tax state development
• dc.type info:eu-repo/semantics/article
• dc.type.version info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion