“An Affront and Disgrace": The Symbolic Burden of New Taxes

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

Abstract

Tax rebellions are one of the most common forms of revolt. But these rebellions are often not limited to only those who face new or more significant tax burdens. Why do particular kinds of tax reform give rise to rebellion and not others? And why is this rebellion concentrated among certain kinds of new taxpayers? I argue that the symbolic burden of taxation can help to explain why we observe opposition in response to certain kinds of tax reform and who does the actual protest. Using an original dataset on rebellions in nineteenth-century Peru, I analyze how the expansion of a form of direct taxation, historically tied to indigenous groups, to all adult males triggered revolts across the country. These revolts were not equally likely across all new taxpayers. Because of the fluid nature of ethnicity in Latin America and the historic association between taxpaying and low social status, the head tax represented a symbolic burden beyond its fiscal burden. I theorize that rebellion was most likely for Peruvians who faced the largest symbolic burden from this new policy, because of the risk to their ethnic, social, and political status. This project contributes to our understanding of the politics of taxation beyond the financial. Fiscal policy does not merely reflect existing ethnic relationships, but also importantly shapes them.

Author

• Daisy Ward, University of Texas at Austin