Interlinking between Income Tax, Citizenship and Democracy? A Case Study of Canada and China

31 Pages Posted: 6 Nov 2023

See all articles by Jinyan Li

Jinyan Li

York University - Osgoode Hall Law School

Date Written: May 8, 2023

Abstract

The interlink between taxation, citizenship and democracy appears to be obvious in Western democracies: citizens are voters, taxpayers and beneficiaries of public spending funded by tax revenues. The literature on the politics of taxation suggests that democratic institutions affect taxation at every stage of the policy-making process, the type of elections and governance model influence the level of redistribution and complexity of the tax system, democracies generally choose policies that are more favorable to the poor than non-democracies, the tax mix varies with the nature of the political regime, and more repressive governments rely less on personal income taxation. Political citizenship is not identical to tax citizenship as most countries rely on residence as the basis of tax jurisdiction and some citizens living abroad are not tax residents. However, citizenship can be viewed as a proxy for domicile and, in effect, correspond to residence in most cases. The principle of “no taxation without representation” captures the quintessential link between taxation and democracy. This paper examines the interlink in Canada and China.

Keywords: tax, citizenship, tax state, citizenship, taxation, democracy

Suggested Citation

Li, Jinyan, Interlinking between Income Tax, Citizenship and Democracy? A Case Study of Canada and China (May 8, 2023). Osgoode Legal Studies Research Paper No. 4624642, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4624642

Jinyan Li (Contact Author)

York University - Osgoode Hall Law School ( email )

4700 Keele Street
Toronto, Ontario M3J 1P3
Canada
416-736-5025 (Phone)

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