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Patriotism and Taxation

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Handbook of Patriotism

Abstract

The provision of public goods by any government generally requires a significant amount of financial resources. Yet the inherent characteristics of public goods imply that individuals who refuse to contribute financially cannot easily be excluded from the benefits provided by public goods. This chapter explores how, and when, patriotism can increase private incentives to make contributions to the common good – and thereby mitigate the free rider problem at the heart of public finances. We discuss this patriotism-taxation relation in times of war as well as peace and evaluate whether patriotism might help to (partially) moderate the incentives to avoid or even evade taxes. Finally, we consider the role of two potential mechanisms – i.e., migration and identification – underlying the patriotism-taxation relation and examine governments’ incentives to invest in instilling patriotic sentiments in the population for fiscal reasons.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Economics, Norwegian Business School BI, Oslo, Norway

    Benny Geys

  2. Department of Applied Economics (APEC), Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Brussels, Belgium

    Benny Geys

  3. Max Planck Institute for Tax Law and Public Finance, Munich, Germany

    Kai A. Konrad

Authors
  1. Benny Geys
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  2. Kai A. Konrad
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Correspondence to Benny Geys .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Educational Research Institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Mitja Sardoč

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Geys, B., Konrad, K.A. (2020). Patriotism and Taxation. In: Sardoč, M. (eds) Handbook of Patriotism. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-54484-7_17

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