Acceso usuarios
For some years, political science has been strug- gling with a democratic puzzle: how is it that upward-redistributive policies, which grant signifi- cant tax cuts to rich people, seem to be supported by a majority of the voters? Is it due to misinfor- mation, political obfuscation, or a shift in the moral attitudes towards taxation and redistribution? Through an analysis of the French “ bouclier fiscal ” (tax shield), which was created in 2005 and abo- lished in 2011, we stress the major role played by symbols, narratives and figures in the evolving representations of tax unfairness. First conceived as a tool bound to protect all the taxpayers from abusive taxation, this measure became increa- singly perceived as client-politics, especially after 2009-2010. We argue that symbols, when used in politics, may help frame public issues, but also lead to political weakness when reality appears to be too distorted from narratives.
