Beyond death and taxes: Fiscal studies and the fiscal state

Abstract

The past decade has seen a resurgence of interdisciplinary interest in fiscal studies, from the new fiscal sociology to fiscal geographies and beyond, with roots in the 20th century theories of Schumpeter (liberal) and O’Connor (Marxian). The notion of a ‘tax state’ remains particularly germane, and indeed fiscal studies have all but narrowed to assessments of the relations and implications of taxation. This paper calls for a meaningful engagement with the ‘fiscal’ in fiscal studies where taxation is better understood as being but one component of public sector revenue and expenditure (alongside other important features like asset ownership, debt/credit, and intergovernmental transfers). More than an academic quibble over terminology or unit of analysis, narrowing ‘fiscal’ to ‘tax’ obscures many budget items and misses out on important temporal trends in the political economy of state revenue and expenditure. These issues are explored in two parts: the roots of fiscal studies (politicizing theoretical underpinnings), and the various conjunctural features of the fiscal state (tracing the temporal through Canadian examples).

Fiscal geographies between the crisis and the pandemic

“…And in a case study of Lexington, KY, Ward and Wood (2021) show that government officials leverage the local tax base for speculative urban financing mechanisms. Whiteside's (2021) contribution to this themed issue adds theoretical grounding to these topics. A review of Joseph Schumpeter and James O'Connor's pioneering work on the tax state and fiscal sociology cautions that researchers of the fiscal state need to ensure they are not narrowing their focus to taxation and highlights the range of fiscal capacities beyond tax-a point well-taken.…”

A very British state capitalism: Variegation, political connections and bailouts during the COVID-19 crisis

“…Although this may lead to an increase in government ownership and control, it remains unclear as to what effects bailouts would have on the industry and, indeed, the environment (Abate et al, 2020). Whiteside (2021aWhiteside ( , 2021b similarly discussed the expansive role of the state in crisis management in what is considered as a liberal market economy-Canada-in the case of Air Canada. Having already received a $250 million bailout in 2009, nationalization was again a very likely outcome due to the airline's inability to sustain itself and lack of other viable rescue options.…”

Reimagining geographies of public finance

“…Within geography, specifically, the study of public finance has largely been secondary to that of private finance. Remarkably, geographers have scarcely engaged with public finance since economic geographer Bennett's 1980 book, The Geography of Public Finance: Welfare under Fiscal Federalism and Local Government Finance (but see Cameron, 2008;Pacione, 2001; and more recent interventions from Tapp andKay, 2019 andWhiteside, 2021). Bennett emphasized the need for a "geography of public finance [that] does not lose sight of the question of distribution between people" (1), an agenda that has regrettably not animated the study of public finance in other disciplines.…”