Hostname: page-component-76c49bb84f-sz5hq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-07-07T19:09:22.414Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Centrality of Taxation to Social Policy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 March 2020

Sally Ruane ,
Micheál L Collins  and
Adrian Sinfield
Sally Ruane
Affiliation:
School of Applied Social Sciences, De Montfort University, Leicester, E-mail: sruane@dmu.ac.uk
Micheál L Collins
Affiliation:
School of Social Policy, Social Work and Social Justice, University College Dublin, E-mail: ml.collins@ucd.ie
Adrian Sinfield
Affiliation:
School of Social and Political Science, Edinburgh University, E-mail: Adrian.Sinfield@ed.ac.uk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The article reviews the limited existing social policy literature on taxation and sets out a case for the incorporation of the study of taxation into the accepted remit of social policy. Social policy has historically been concerned with the services and benefits which flow from public expenditure, and people’s experiences of them, rather than with taxation, and the contributions by individual researchers have tended to remain marginal to the main focus of social policy. The article offers a speculative account as to why taxation has remained peripheral to social policy and presents three arguments for the mainstreaming of tax in social policy’s domain of study. These concern the role of taxation in shaping the distribution of resources, a fundamental pre-occupation of social policy; the contribution social policy scholars can make to shaping a new discourse surrounding taxation, foregrounding issues of equity and need; and how social policy’s engagement with taxation can influence the politics of the welfare state.

Keywords

Taxationsocial policydistributionpre-distributiontax expenditure

Information

Type
Themed Section: Taxation and Social Policy
Information
Social Policy and Society , Volume 19 , Issue 3 , July 2020 , pp. 437 - 453
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Abramovitz, M. (1983) ‘“Everyone is on welfare: the role of redistribution in social policy” revisited’, Social Work, 28, 441–5.10.1093/sw/28.6.440CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Abramovitz, M. (2001) ‘Everyone is still on welfare: the role of redistribution in social policy’, Social Work, 46, 4, 297–308.10.1093/sw/46.4.297CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Adema, W. (1997) What do Countries Really Spend on Social Policies: A Comparative Note, OECD Economic Studies, No.28, 1997/I. Paris: OECD.Google Scholar
Adema, W., Fron, P. and Ladaique, M. (2011) Is the European Welfare State Really More Expensive?: Indicators on Social Spending, 1980-2012; and a Manual to the OECD Social Expenditure Database (SOCX), OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers, No. 124, Paris: OECD.Google Scholar
Anyaegbu, G. (2011) The Effects of Taxes and Benefits on Income Inequality, 1980-2009/10, Office for National Statistics.10.1057/elmr.2011.69CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Atkinson, A. B., Rainwater, L. and Smeeding, T. M (1995) Income Distribution in OECD Countries: The Evidence from the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS), Paris: OECD.Google Scholar
Backhaus, J. (2006) ‘Fiscal sociology: guest editor’s introduction’, Economic Behavior and Organization, 59, 4, 457–59.10.1016/j.jebo.2005.06.002CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baker, A. and Murphy, R. (2020) ‘Modern monetary theory and the changing role of tax in society’, Social Policy and Society, doi:10.1017/S1474746420000056.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beland, D. and Koreh, M. (2019) ‘Social insurance as fiscal policy and state-building tool: the development and politics of payroll contributions in Israel and Canada’, Journal of Social Policy, 48, 1, 1–20.10.1017/S0047279418000235CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boden, R. (2004) ‘Taxation research as social policy research’, in Lamb, M., Lymer, A., Freedman, J. and James, S. (eds.), Taxation: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Research, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 130–52.Google Scholar
Brandolini, A. and Smeeding, T.M. (2009) ‘Income inequality in richer and OECD countries’, in Salverda, W., Nolan, B. and Smeeding, T. M. (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Economic Inequality, Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Byrne, D. and Ruane, S. (2017) Paying for the Welfare State in the 21st Century: Tax and Spending in Post-Industrial Societies, Bristol: Policy Press.10.2307/j.ctt1t892qjCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, C. M. A. (2002) The Basic Income Guarantee: Ensuring Progress and Prosperity in the 21st Century, Dublin: Liffey Press.Google Scholar
Collins, M. L. (2014) Modelling the Distributive Impact of Indirect Taxation Changes in the Republic of Ireland, NERI Working Paper, 2014/20, Dublin: The Nevin Economic Research Institute.Google Scholar
Collins, M. L. (2016) ‘Ireland’s income taxation system: a social policy perspective’, in Tobin, G. and O’Brien, C. (eds.), Irish Tax Policy in Perspective, Dublin: Institute of Taxation and Department of Finance.Google Scholar
Collins, M. L. (2020) ‘Private pensions and the gender distribution of fiscal welfare’, Social Policy and Society, doi: 10.1017/S1474746420000111.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Collins, M. L. and Murphy, M. P. (2016) ‘Activation: solving unemployment or supporting a low pay economy?,’ in Murphy, M. P. and Dukelow, F. (eds.), The Irish Welfare State in the Twenty-First Century: Challenges and Change, London: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Collins, M. L. and Hughes, G. (2017) ‘Supporting pension contributions through the tax system: outcomes, costs and examining reform’, The Economic and Social Review, 48, 4, 489–514.Google Scholar
Diamond (1977) Royal Commission on the Distribution of Income and Wealth 5, Third Report on the Standing Reference, Cmnd. 6999, London: HMSO.Google Scholar
Dorey, P. (2005) Policy Making in Britain: An Introduction, London: Sage.10.4135/9781446279410CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Esping-Andersen, G. (1990) Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism, Cambridge: Polity.Google Scholar
Farnsworth, K. (2004) Corporate Power And Social Policy In A Global Economy, Bristol: Policy Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Farnsworth, K. (2019) ‘Towards a whole-economy approach to the welfare state: citizens, corporations and the state within the broad welfare mix’, Social Policy Review 31, 71–99.Google Scholar
Ferge, Z. (1980) A Society in the Making: Hungarian Social and Societal Policy 1945-75, White Plains, New York: ME Sharpe.Google Scholar
Ferrarini, T. and Wilson, N. (2003) ‘Taxation of social insurance and redistribution: a comparative analysis of ten welfare states’, Journal of European Social Policy, 13, 1, 21–33.10.1177/0958928703013001037CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Field, F., Meacher, M. and Pond, C. (1977) To Him Who Hath: A Study of Poverty and Taxation, Harmondsworth: Penguin.Google Scholar
Field, F. (1981) Inequality in Britain: Freedom, Welfare and the State, London: Fontana.Google Scholar
Furnham, A. (1988) Lay Theories: Everyday Understandings of Problems in the Social Sciences, Oxford: Pergamon.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greve, B. (1994) ‘The hidden welfare state: tax expenditure and social policy’, Scandinavian Journal of Social Welfare, 3, 4, 203–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hacker, J. S. (2002) The Divided Welfare State: The Battle Over Public and Private Social Benefits in the United States, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hasleswerdt, J. and Bartels, B. (2015) ‘Public opinion, policy tools and the status quo: evidence from a survey experiment’, Political Research Quarterly, 68, 3, 607–21.10.1177/1065912915591217CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hills, J. (1988) Changing Tax, London: Child Poverty Action Group.Google Scholar
Hills, J. (2015) Good Times, Bad Times: The Welfare Myth of Them and Us, Bristol: Policy Press.Google Scholar
Hind, D. and Christensen, J. (2015) The Greatest Invention: Tax and the Campaign for a Just Society, Margate: Commonwealth.Google Scholar
HMRC (2019) Estimated Costs of Tax Reliefs, Bulletin, KAI Data Policy and Co-ordination, HMRC, Jan 31.Google Scholar
Horton, T. and Reed, H. (2010) Where the Money Goes: How we Benefit from Public Services, London: Trades Union Congress.Google Scholar
Howard, C. (1997) The Hidden Welfare State: Tax Expenditures and Social Policy in the United States, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Hughes, G. and Sinfield, A. (2004) ‘Financing pensions by stealth’, in Hughes, G. and Stewart, J. (eds.), Reforming Pensions in Europe: Evolution of Pension Financing and Sources of Retirement Income, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 163–92.Google Scholar
Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) (2018) Prosperity and Justice: A Plan for the New Economy, London: Institute for Public Policy Research.Google Scholar
Kato, J. (2003) Regressive Taxation and the Welfare State: Path Dependence and Policy Diffusion, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kelsey, T. (2018) An Unexpected Cut: Revisiting the Diamond Commission and Assessing Inequality in Post-War Britain, London: Resolution Foundation.Google Scholar
Kidder, J. and Martin, I. (2012) ‘What we talk about when we talk about taxes’, Symbolic Interaction, 35, 2, 123–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klitgaard, M. and Elmelund-Praestekaer, C. (2014) ‘The partisanship of systemic retrenchment: tax policy and welfare reform in Denmark 1975-2008’, European Political Science Review, 6, 1, 1–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kvist, J. and Sinfield, A. (1997) ‘Comparing tax welfare states’, Social Policy Review 9, 249–75.Google Scholar
Lawlor, A. (2016) ‘Getting citizens to save: media influence on incentive-based policies’, Journal of Social Policy, 45, 2, 201–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lewis, A., Webley, P. and Furnham, A. (1995) The New Economic Mind: The Social Psychology of Economic Behaviour, London: Harvester Wheatsheaf.Google Scholar
Martin, I. and Gabay, N. (2017) ‘Tax policy and tax protest in 20 rich democracies, 1980-2010’, British Journal of Sociology, 69, 3, 647–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martin, I. and Prasad, M. (2014) ‘Taxes and fiscal sociology’, Annual Review of Sociology, 40, 331–46.10.1146/annurev-soc-071913-043229CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Millar, J. (2003) ‘From wage replacement to wage supplement: benefits and tax credits’, in Millar, J. (ed.), Understanding Social Security, Bristol: Policy Press, 123–43.Google Scholar
Moisio, P., Lahtela, K.-M. and Mukkila, S. (2016) ‘Poverty reduction effects of taxation and benefits policies in Finland, 1993-2013’, European Journal of Social Security, 18, 1, 30–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morel, N., Touzet, C. and Zemmour, M. (2018) ‘Fiscal welfare in Europe: why should we care and what do we know so far?’, European Journal of Social Policy, 28, 5, 549–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nolan, B., Richiardi, R. and Valenzuela, L. (2018). The Drivers of Inequality in Rich Countries, INET Oxford Working Paper No. 2018-15.Google Scholar
O’Connor, J. (2002) The Fiscal Crisis of the State, New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction Publishers.Google Scholar
Office of National Statistics (ONS) (2019) Effects of Taxes and Benefits on UK Household Income: Financial Year Ending 2018, https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/personalandhouseholdfinances/incomeandwealth/bulletins/theeffectsoftaxesandbenefitsonhouseholdincome/financialyearending2018 [accessed 01.11.2019].Google Scholar
Orton, M. and Davies, R. (2009) ‘Exploring neglected dimensions of social policy: the SDW, fiscal welfare and the exemplar of local taxation in England’, Social Policy and Administration, 43, 1, 33–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pahl, J. (2011) Keynote Presentation, Annual conference of the Social Policy Association, Lincoln.Google Scholar
Pega, F., Gilsanz, P., Kawachi, I., Wilson, N. and Blakely, T. (2017) ‘Cumulative receipt of an anti-poverty tax credit for families did not impact tobacco smoking among parents’, Social Science and Medicine, 179, 160–5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pond, C. (1980) ‘Tax expenditures and fiscal welfare’, in Sandford, C., Pond, C. and Walker, R. (eds.), Taxation and Social Policy, London: Heinemann, 47–63.Google Scholar
Prabhakar, R. (2008) ‘Wealth taxes: stories, metaphors and public attitudes’, The Political Quarterly, 79, 2, 172–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Prasad, M. and Deng, Y. (2009) ‘Taxation and the worlds of welfare’, Socio-Economic Review 7, 431–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Redonda, A. and Neubig, T. (2018) Assessing Tax Expenditure Reporting in G20 and OECD Economies, Council on Economic Policies Discussion Note 2018/3, November.Google Scholar
Reed, H. (2020) ‘The distributional impact of tax and social security reforms in the UK from 2010 to 2017’, Social Policy and Society.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Revelant, A. (2013) ‘Tax reform as social policy: adjusting to change in interwar Japan’, Modern Asian Studies, 47, 3, 851–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rowlingson, K. and Connor, S. (2011) ‘The “deserving rich”? Inequality, morality and social policy’, Journal of Social Policy, 40, 3, 437–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ruane, S. (2018) Social Policy, Tax Avoidance and Everyday Theories of Tax, paper presented at the annual conference of the Social Policy Association, York.Google Scholar
Sandford, C., Pond, C. and Walker, R. (eds) (1980) Taxation and Social Policy, London: Heinemann.Google Scholar
Shaxson, N. (2011) Treasure Islands: Tax Havens and the Men Who Stole the World, London: St Martin’s Press.Google Scholar
Sinfield, A. (1978) ‘Analyses in the social division of welfare’, Journal of Social Policy, 7, 2, 129–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sinfield, A. (2019) ‘Fiscal welfare’, in Greve, B. (ed.), Social Policy Handbook, 2nd edn, London: Routledge, 20–29.Google Scholar
Sloman, P. (2018) ‘Universal basic income in British politics, 1918-2018: from a “vagabond’s wage” to a global debate’, Journal of Social Policy, 47, 3, 625–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Standing, G. (2019) Basic Income: And How We Can Make It Happen, London: Pelican.Google Scholar
Stanley, L. (2016) ‘Legitimacy gaps, taxpayer conflict, and the politics of austerity in the UK’, British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 18, 2, 389–406.10.1177/1369148115615031CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stebbing, A. and Spies-Butcher, B. (2010) ‘Universal welfare by “other means”? Social tax expenditures and the Australian dual welfare state’, Journal of Social Policy, 39, 4, 585–606.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Steinmo, S. (1993) Taxation and Democracy: Swedish, British and American Approaches to Financing the Modern State, New Haven CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Steinmo, S. (2010) The Evolution of Modern States: Sweden, Japan and the United States, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Surrey, S. S. (1973) Pathways to Tax Reform, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Surrey, S. and McDaniel, P. (1985) Tax Expenditures, Cambridge Mass.: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Taylor-Gooby, P. (2016) ‘The divisive welfare state’, Social Policy and Administration, 50, 6, 712–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Titmuss, R. (1958) ‘The social divisions of welfare: some reflections on the search for equity’, in Essays on ‘the Welfare State’, London: Allen and Unwin, 34–55.Google Scholar
Titmuss, R. (1962) Income Distribution and Social Change, London: Allen and Unwin.Google Scholar
Toder, E. I. (1999) Tax Incentives for Social Policy: The Only Game in Town, Burns Academy of Leadership, Univ of Maryland Paper no 5.Google Scholar
Treasury Committee (2018) Household Finances: Income, Saving and Debt, HC 565, 26 July.Google Scholar
Treasury and Civil Service Committee (1983) The Structure of Personal Income Taxation and Income Support, session 1982-83, London: HMSO, HC 386.Google Scholar
Webber, D. and O’Neill, J. (2018) Effects of Taxes and Benefits on Household Income: Financial Year Ending 2017, Office for National Statistics.Google Scholar
Wilson, S. (2013) ‘The limits of low-tax social democracy? Welfare, tax and fiscal dilemmas for Labor in government’, Australian Journal of Political Science, 48, 3, 286–306.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilson, S., Spies-Butcher, B., Stebbing, A. and St John, S. (2013) ‘Wage earners’ welfare after economic reform: refurbishing, retrenching or hollowing out social protection in Australia and New Zealand’, Social Policy and Administration, 47, 6, 623–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
World Bank (2003) Why Worry about Tax Expenditures?, PREMnotes Economic Policy, 77, January.Google Scholar