Fiscal Sociology at the Centenary

This book discusses the socio-legal tax state and its relationship to development, inequality and the transnational. 'Fiscal Sociology' commenced in 1918 when Joseph A. Schumpeter examined the links between capitalism and taxation, arguing that fiscal pressures on governments led directly to the development of tax collection, and the burgeoning growth of capitalist economies. The identification of taxation as an important component of capitalism has continued to change the way that theoretical sociologists conceptualise tax. This book documents the history of this literature to provide a summary of the topic for scholars seeking a bridge between taxation law and contextual, historical, and anthropological analyses of the development of the state, more generally. Whilst Schumpeter's insights have been celebrated over the past one hundred years, taxation has slipped from the agenda of many scholarly disciplines, in relation to analyses of poverty, globalisation, and equality. Fiscal Sociology at the Centenary fills this gap. The implications of this literature for taxation law in the United Kingdom, in particular, are considered.

Auteur
Ann Mumford is Professor of Law at King's College London, UK.

Contenu

Dedication

Series Editor Foreword

Chapter One: Introduction

Part I: Fiscal sociology

Chapter Two: What is fiscal sociology?

The field: a brief introduction

Example of study: tax revolts14

The scholar: a brief introduction to Joseph Schumpeter15

The sacred decade16

Career in the US17

Legacy17

The founding text: 'The Crisis of the Tax State'

The Finanzplan

Definition of the term: Tax State

Introduction of a methodology: or, why is an essay from 1918 still important?

Paretian fiscal sociology

What about Marx?

The Modern Fiscal Sociology

The post-2008 era

Parliament

The New Fiscal Sociology

A next step for the new fiscal sociology

Part II: What is the nature of the tax state? How did it come about? (Schumpeter 1918: 100)

Chapter Three: The Fiscal State and Budget Institutions

The UK's budget history: a fiscal, sociological consideration

Pitt the Younger, and the Old Sinking Fund

Gladstone's Budget of 1853

The People's Budget of 1909

Budgeting and executive power in the UK

Local authorities and the Thatcher era

First Lord of the Treasury

Closing

Chapter Four: Budgets: process, rights, and institutions

Process: Twenty-first century legislative initiatives

The Office for Budget Responsibility

Budgets as transparent

Budgets as sustainable

The EU Context

Comparative Perspective: The United States

Two American ideas: tax expenditures, and fiscal federalism

Tax expenditures

Fiscal federalism

Part III: What are the social processes which are behind the superficial facts of the budget figures? (Schumpeter 1918: 100)

Chapter five: The challenge of taking rights seriously in fiscal sociology

Taking rights seriously with Schumpeter

Taking rights seriously in economic institutions

The importance of multi-disciplinarity

Closing

Chapter six: Two examples of taking law seriously in fiscal sociology

1) Capital and tax principles

Introduction to r > g

Tax principles

Tax policy

Principles of taxation in the United Kingdom

Searching for tax principles in policy reviews

The Meade Review

The Mirrlees Review

Personal tax reform 2010-2015

Transnational tax principles?

Law and Development

Closing

2) Gender and tax principles

The New Fiscal Sociology, and gender

Independent taxation

Married Couple's Allowance, and Child Benefit

Tax credits

New Labour

The Universal Credit

The male breadwinner model

What about (gender) budgeting?

Austerity

1. Objective and reasonable justification: introduction to the benefit cap cases

SG

DA

2. Indirect discrimination

Why it matters whether the issue is addressed from the perspective of mothers, or their children

What about: EU equality legislation?

3. Attaching benefits to children

Legitimacy

Workfare, welfare, poor law, and the male breadwinner model

A fiscal, sociological analysis: tax principles and austerity

Closing

Conclusion

Bibliography