Lotta Björklund Larsen & Lynne Oats, Crossing Borders, Sharing Burdens: Rethinking Taxation and Migration as Fiscal Belonging (2026) (open access pdf/ePub):
Tax matters. It structures our societies, influences our choices, and reflects our values. Yet the meaning and impact of taxation are constantly changing in step with a world marked by climate transitions, demographic shifts, digitalisation, globalisation, and migration.
This open access book addresses critical questions surrounding attitudes to tax and tax compliance through the lens of ‘fiscal belonging,’ demonstrating the value of qualitative approaches to tax research. It explores the lived experience of immigrants to the UK, and how feelings of belonging, exclusion, reciprocity, and obligation shape their encounters with the tax system. The book illuminates the many different facets of fiscal belonging, including the right to work and access to employment, as well as histories of colonialism and the economic history of different communities on a national scale. By foregrounding personal narratives and the complexity of social worlds, this book argues for more methodologically diverse and inclusive approaches to understanding why people do, or do not, pay tax. It will be of interest to scholars across disciplines, as well as tax professionals working in business, consultancy, and public administration.
From the Preface:
We make four contributions:
- Critical perspective: a critical perspective allows us to probe more deeply and challenge entrenched positions in our collective understanding of the role of taxation in society.
- Fiscal belonging: we develop a new, multifaceted, concept that sits alongside fiscal citizenship but places the emphasis on social relations between migrants and the state, and between fellow members of society.
- Thick and thin reciprocity: we nuance received understandings of reciprocity as being tit for tat, highlighting the complexity of feelings of reciprocity.
- Fiscal culture: our concept of fiscal culture moves us beyond simplistic categorisations and underscores the importance of a holistic view, taking into account not only contributions to the state in the form of taxes, but also what we receive from the state in the form of benefits.
