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Going Where the Money Is: Strategies for Taxing Economic Elites in Unequal Democracies

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  • Fairfield, Tasha

Abstract

How can policymakers circumvent obstacles to taxing economic elites? This question is critical for developing countries, especially in Latin America where strengthening tax capacity depends significantly on tapping under-taxed, highly-concentrated income and profits. Drawing on diverse literatures and extensive fieldwork, the paper identifies six strategies that facilitate enactment of modest tax increases by mobilizing popular support and/or tempering elite antagonism. Case studies from Chile, Argentina, and Bolivia illustrate the effect of these strategies on the fate of tax reform initiatives. The analysis builds theory on tax politics and yields implications for research on reform coalitions and gradual institutional change.

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  • Fairfield, Tasha, 2013. "Going Where the Money Is: Strategies for Taxing Economic Elites in Unequal Democracies," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 42-57.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:47:y:2013:i:c:p:42-57
    DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2013.02.011
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    9. Jonathan L. Weigel & Elie Kabue Ngindu, 2023. "The taxman cometh: Pathways out of a low‐capacity trap in the Democratic Republic of the Congo," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 90(360), pages 1362-1396, October.
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    11. Tasha Fairfield, 2015. "La economía política de la reforma tributaria progresiva en Chile," Revista de Economía Institucional, Universidad Externado de Colombia - Facultad de Economía, vol. 17(32), pages 129-156, January-J.
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