IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/jculte/v10y2017i5p419-433.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Mind the (tax) gap: an ethnography of a number

Author

Listed:
  • Lotta Björklund Larsen

Abstract

This article looks carefully at the making of the tax gap as a calculative practice at the Swedish Tax Agency. It points to the challenges with assessing tax gap numbers and reveals examples of its careless usage by various stakeholders in Swedish society in order to impact the discourse on tax compliance. Based on an ethnographic study of documents, it is an example of a number that performs a dual function: on the one hand mobilizing people’s morals and subsequent commitments and on the other hand measuring such commitments. On a more general level, the tax gap is an example of how a number that describes a complicated reality is calculated with many caveats attached to it, yet used with certainty in society. I thus challenge the metaphor of the ubiquitous ‘black box’. The Swedish tax gap number is a calculated device and can be unpacked as a specific number. But if we think about what a tax gap ought to contain, we have to think outside the box and beyond: what was not included in the published tax gap number and why there was no room for it.

Suggested Citation

  • Lotta Björklund Larsen, 2017. "Mind the (tax) gap: an ethnography of a number," Journal of Cultural Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(5), pages 419-433, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:jculte:v:10:y:2017:i:5:p:419-433
    DOI: 10.1080/17530350.2017.1323228
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/17530350.2017.1323228
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/17530350.2017.1323228?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fiscalis Tax Gap Project Group, 2016. "The concept of tax gaps - Report on VAT Gap Estimations," Taxation Studies 0065, Directorate General Taxation and Customs Union, European Commission.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Eliška Čejková & Hana Zídková, 2019. "The Impact of Specific Reverse Charge on Waste and Scrap on Tax Revenues in the Czech Republic," European Financial and Accounting Journal, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2019(1), pages 65-83.
    2. -, 2020. "Panorama Fiscal de América Latina y el Caribe, 2020: la política fiscal ante la crisis derivada de la pandemia de la enfermedad por coronavirus (COVID-19)," Libros y Documentos Institucionales, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), number 45730 edited by Cepal.
    3. Ali-Yrkkö, Jyrki & Koski, Heli & Kässi, Otto & Pajarinen, Mika & Valkonen, Tarmo & Hokkanen, Marja & Hyvönen, Noora & Koivusalo, Elina & Laaksonen, Jarno & Laitinen, Juha & Nyström, Enni, 2020. "The Size of the Digital Economy in Finland and Its Impact on Taxation," ETLA Reports 106, The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy.
    4. Ebru Canikalp & Ilter Unlukaplan & Muhammed Celik, 2016. "Estimating Value Added Tax Gap in Turkey," International Journal of Innovation and Economic Development, Inovatus Services Ltd., vol. 2(3), pages 18-25, August 10.
    5. Anna Kowal & Grzegorz Przekota, 2021. "VAT Efficiency—A Discussion on the VAT System in the European Union," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-16, April.
    6. Lucio Barabesi & Andrea Cerioli & Domenico Perrotta, 2021. "Forum on Benford’s law and statistical methods for the detection of frauds," Statistical Methods & Applications, Springer;Società Italiana di Statistica, vol. 30(3), pages 767-778, September.
    7. Antonín Korauš & Miroslav Gombár & Alena Vagaská & Stanislav Šišulák & Filip Černák, 2021. "Secondary Energy Sources and Their Optimization in the Context of the Tax Gap on Petrol and Diesel," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-22, July.
    8. Silvia Fedeli & Luisa Giuriato, 2023. "Value added tax non‐compliance in the car market," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 44(1), pages 85-104, March.
    9. Beata Holkova & Eva Malichova & Lukas Falat & Lucia Pancikova, 2023. "Determinants of Tax Ethics in Society: Statistical and Logistic Regression Approach," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-21, May.
    10. European Commission, 2016. "Tax Policies in the European Union: 2016 Survey," Taxation Survey 2016, Directorate General Taxation and Customs Union, European Commission.
    11. Janina Kotlinska & Marian Zukowski & Pawel Marzec & Jaroslaw Kuspit & Zdzislaw A. Blasiak, 2020. "Household Consumption and VAT Revenue in Poland," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(Special 2), pages 580-605.
    12. European Commission, 2017. "Tax Policies in the European Union: 2017 Survey," Taxation Survey 2017, Directorate General Taxation and Customs Union, European Commission.
    13. Lešnik Tomaž & Jagrič Timotej & Jagrič Vita, 2018. "VAT Gap Dependence and Fiscal Administration Measures," Naše gospodarstvo/Our economy, Sciendo, vol. 64(2), pages 43-51, June.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:jculte:v:10:y:2017:i:5:p:419-433. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/RJCE20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.