How South African Citizens Evaluate Their Economic Obligations to the State

Author(s): Evan Lieberman 

Status/Format: Published

Date: 2002

Publication Type: Journal Article

Publisher: Journal of Development Studies

Volume and Issue: 38(3)

Page Numbers: 37 - 62

Abstract: 

This article explores the relationship between feelings about political community and citizen evaluations of the state’s demands for taxation. It finds preliminary support for the hypothesis that to the extent that individuals identify themselves with the state-sponsored view of the nation, they will perceive the allocation of costs and benefits to be more ‘fair’, and will be more inclined to comply with demands for taxation. This conclusion is based upon analysis of a 1997 dataset resulting from a national survey of adult South Africans, a society characterised by a great diversity of feelings about political community, and other socio-economic factors.