Anthropology and Tax Ethnographies of Fiscal Relations

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.

Johanna Mugler (Research Associate, University of Bern) authored Measuring Justice (CUP, 2019), and co-edited A World of Indicators (CUP, 2015). She is currently writing Sharing Global Profits: Negotiating Tax Expertise, Value and Advantage at the OECD. She earned the Caroline von Humboldt Award for research on international tax norms (2021).
Miranda Sheild Johansson (UKRI Future Leaders Fellow, University College London) has co-edited the Special Issue An Anthropology of the Social Contract (Critique of Anthropology, 2022), authored Tax (Open Encyclopaedia of Anthropology, 2020), and co-founded the EASA Tax Network. Her research has been funded by the UKRI, ESRC, and Leverhulme Trust.
Robin Smith (Marie Curie Fellow, Copenhagen Business School) co-edited Beyond the Social Contract: An Anthropology of Tax (Social Analysis, 2020). She has earned research fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies, Wenner-Gren Foundation, Clarendon Fund, and the Independent Social Research Foundation. She founded the Anthropology of Tax Network.