No taxation without informational foundation: On the role of legibility in tax state development

Arbeitspapier

This paper combines cross-national statistical analysis and in-depth historical case studies of Argentina and Chile to explore the relationship between two crucial dimensions of state capacity. We show that information capacity contributes to the development of fiscal capacity. States require accurate information about their subject populations, territories, and economies in order to effectively mobilize revenues. In developing this argument this paper makes three broader contributions. First, while existing scholarship either treats distinct dimensions of capacity as separate entities, or simply assumes that they complement each other, our findings urge scholars to treat state development as sequential and to further investigate how multiple dimensions of state capacity are interrelated. Second, the paper suggests a broader underlying set of mechanisms-economies of scope-which connect these dimensions, and explores them in the specific context of the dependency of fiscal capacity on information capacity. Third, we join scholarship on the importance of societal compliance in the creation of the fiscal state, but with a focus on elite compliance with the state's information collection efforts, which was crucial to tax state development.

Object Details

• ISBN: 978-92-9267-117-4
• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: WIDER Working Paper ; No. 2021/177

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Single Equation Models; Single Variables: Panel Data Models; Spatio-temporal Models ; Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue: General ; Public Administration; Public Sector Accounting and Audits ; Economic History: Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation: Latin America; Caribbean
• Subject: state capacity ; information capacity ; fiscal capacity ; taxation ; state formation ; mixed methods ; Latin America

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Vom Hau, Matthias ; Peres-Cajías, José ; Soifer, Hillel
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): The United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER)
• (where): Helsinki
• (when): 2021

Further information

• DOI: doi:10.35188/UNU-WIDER/2021/117-4
• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/249483
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:45 AM CET