Taxation and the social contract

14 December 2023

Yes, taxation helps mobilize the resources needed for the functioning of the state and for public investments.
However, its missions go beyond this: taxation influences the decisions of economic actors. It is a public policy instrument capable of promoting social justice, in response to structural or cyclical imbalances. It can also be a vehicle for citizen participation and a condition for the acceptance of the legitimacy of institutions.

In other words, paying taxes means accepting the social contract and giving ourselves the means to live together.

If, as we have said, taxation plays a particular role in the construction of society, is low tax pressure systematically synonymous with a weakened social contract?
What are the implications of these figures for living together in countries that collect less?
Is the political and institutional instability characterized by several coups d’état in the sub-region, indirectly, a manifestation of the difficulties experienced by countries in proposing a healthy and fair social contract?
Should the effectiveness of a tax policy be judged solely on the basis of the revenue raised?

Expertise France projects related to entrepreneurship and diasporas

Speakers

Introduction

Jérémie PELLET

Managing Director, Expertise France

Grand angle 1

The observation: tax systems that struggle to fulfill their missions, for economic, political and social reasons.

Oral Williams

Director of AFRITAC West (IMF)

Denis Cogneau

Professor at the Paris School of Economics (PSE), Research Director at the Institute for Research for Development (IRD), Director of Studies at the School of Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (EHESS)