Introduction to the Handbook on the Politics of Taxation

Although taxation is highly political, Political Science has so far devoted relatively little attention to the topic; at least when compared to other disciplines such as Economics or other policy fields such as social spending. As a first step towards remedying this neglect, which is the handbook’s overall goal, this introductory chapter provides an overview of the exciting contributions Political Scientists have already made to the academic literature on taxation and explains how taxation relates to some of the discipline’s core objects of investigation, including state development, inequality, and power. The chapter also provides accessible explanations of key concepts frequently used in tax research and identifies biases and research opportunities future researchers might want to address.