Too close for comfort: a case study of boundary work implementing cooperative compliance policies in Norway and Sweden

In the chapter we discuss findings from a case study of corporate tax compliance in Norway and Sweden in light of the concept of boundary work, meaning work in a situation where a sociocultural difference leads to discontinuity in action or interaction. The gist of the argument is that the discontinuity between the tax administration and the business community in this case happened because a new routine redrew the balance between the private and the public without it being a political decision. In this way, the corporations became disenfranchised from the established way of democratic participation, a change to which they provided strong opposition. Noteworthy is that there were not changes in the law, just in the way taxation was conducted, that generated the resistance. The proposed changes in taxation practices failed quite miserably in each country. One salient aspect of the failure was more specifically disagreements about to what extent the tax administration could and should become “buddies” with the corporations and intervene in their internal affairs. The discussion of the cases that ends the chapter will add further nuances to the understanding of conditions for taxation and corporate citizenship as part of democratic practice.