La domestication de l'impôt par les classes dominantes

Abstract

It is a commonly held belief that the dominant classes comprise the individuals who own vast amounts of economic capital. Yet, the preservation and the reproduction of this capital require resources and skills that are not limited to patrimonial collateral or income levels, in particular when it comes to weaken fiscal constraints. Within a time span of less than a century, those at the top of the social ladder have moved from an attitude of direct and collective opposition to taxation to more individualized strategies of resistance. On the basis of a survey realized in several fiscal services, this paper shows how the taxpayers who are better off manage to tame fiscal regulations by manipulating the border between professional and private life, and between fiscal optimization and tax fraud. By instrumentalizing the rules to their own advantage, they also obtain the recognition by the state of the legitimacy of the capital they have accumulated.