The Production of Tax Politics and Inequality

Despite significant increases in economic inequality since the 1980s, U.S. tax policies have done less to reduce income and wealth disparities than in the preceding decades or than in other affluent nations. Research suggests that a reason for this is that voters lack a clear understanding of the connections between inequality and public policy, especially in regards to the tax code. Understanding how groups with diverse demographics and political ideologies build the narratives that create a broader view on tax policy is important for both scholars and policy makers.

Anthropologist Sandra Morgen will examine tax-related ballot initiatives in Oregon, where there is a history of economic restructuring and a high rate of income inequality, as well as a state in which voters can directly affect public policy through ballot initiatives. She addresses how the “taxpayer” became a politicized identity and mobilized as a political actor in the past few decades, the strategies that have been deployed to promote taxpayer anger, and the political messages and values that anti-tax groups produced in battles over fiscal policy.