Some Considerations on Fiscal Sociology

• Author: Alina Cristina Nuta
• Pages: 392-395

European Integration - Realities and Perspectives. Proceedings 2017

392

Some Considerations on Fiscal Sociology

Alina Cristina Nuţă1

Abstract: Economists and sociologists, jurists and historians recognize taxation as an important element of

the life of individuals and society and believe that this tool materialize the relationship between individuals

and the state. Starting from the definition of tax (the socio-economic relationship carried out between

individuals and the state, that is final and compulsory), some authors consider taxation eith er as a cause of the

society change or as a symptom of changing in society. Schumpeter used the term fiscal sociology in order to

show those multiple perspectives on taxation and during the last period we discuss about the "new fiscal

sociology," which emphasizes the causal and theoretical importance of taxation. Taxation surprise the level of

the relationship that individuals have with the state; all individuals know they have to pay taxes, bu t anybody

else does not know how concretely contri buted to one or another public goods, as there isn’t a direct

relationship between the level of income transfer to the government and th e quantity of public goods the

individual benefit. Even if individuals are aware of their obligations to the state, there were many con flicting

moments in history, known as tax revolts, which involved various changes in the tax rules.

Keywords: taxation, fiscal sociology; tax compliance; tax state

JEL Classification: H21; Z13; A14; H11

“The public finances are one of the best starting points for an investigation of society, especially

though not exclusively of its political life,” (Schumpeter, 1918)

1. Introduction

The central aspect of fiscal sociology, as observed in the specialized theory, concerns tax compliance.

A first step in addressing the existence and payment of taxes takes into account the importance of

taxpayer correct information so that tax administrations can properly configure the appropriate tax

wedge. Correct information of tax administrations is closely related to the extent to which tax

legislation is perceived as fair by taxpayers. Sociological and economic research argues that social

norms, fairness and justice tend to support the agreement to pay taxes, being determinants of

taxpayers' willingness and ability to cooperate with tax authorities.

Several studies (Buettner & Grimm, 2016) have analyzed the underlying tax compliance, revealing the

following factors as important:

- non-trivial relationship between tax institutions and compliance decisions

- the role of delayed feedback on audits for tax compliance

- contributions to a public good in the context of cause- related marketing, a special form of

CSR

1 Associate Professor, PhD, Department of Economics, Danubius University of Galati, Romania, Address: 3 Galati Blvd.,

Galati 800654, Romania, Tel.: +40372361102, Corresponding author: alinanuta@univ-danubius.ro.