E-Tax

Abstract

Having examined in the previous chapter the role of e-government in a key government area of expenditure, social security, I turn now to the examination of e-government in the operations of government financing, namely taxation. Historically, taxation has been a definitive and indeed foundational feature of the modern nation state and, more recently, the welfare state. The collection of revenue by the state through a variety of sources has provided the fiscal means for governments to create the infrastructure needed to service and develop countries on a multitude of levels. The centrality of taxation and its administration to the functioning of the state makes it an important area to investigate. Indeed, given the centrality of money and the intensely quantified nature of money, taxation agencies (like social security) have been leaders in government usage of ICTs. Moreover, the development of the internet, and the globalised economy it has helped to foster, have raised considerable questions about the nature and operation of taxation based on the nation state.