Homogenizing the High Street

• In Event: Taxes as Tools or Threat for Political Elites

Abstract

Fiscal discrimination, used as a tool to achieve political objectives against vulnerable groups is a common yet understudied political tactic. Why do governments use taxation to strategically weaken select groups? And given tax systems' intricacies, how can discriminatory policies be identified by political economists? We argue that when direct confiscation is politically risky, elites may opt for biased fiscal measures. Furthermore, fiscal policy weaponization can be identified through the mass departure of targeted groups from commercial and property sectors following the introduction of such tax strategies. We support these arguments using an original dataset from 1936-1947 telephone directories and 1942-1944 newspapers from Turkey. We find that the Turkish political elite used a capital levy to curb the property rights of targeted minority groups, facilitate inter-ethnic wealth transfers, and penalize non-Muslim minorities for non-compliance through a "progressive" tax. Our findings highlight the importance of studying fiscal discrimination as a tool of ethnic violence.

Authors

• Berfin Baydar, Duke University

• Asli Cansunar, University of Washington