The taxpayer netizen: Understanding fiscal citizenship in the digital era

Abstract

This article analyses the trajectory of the conception of citizenship from the classical tradition to the modern version, in light of fiscal roles in Western liberal States. The discussion reveals how, in the post-War period, taxation has become the key factor of the modern State’s economic platform, changing the perception of citizens’ duties. Such a change goes beyond conventional voting and other forms of political engagement to new civic responsibility known as fiscal citizenship. Within this conceptual framework, citizens relinquish rights, such as access to public services, in return for duties – the most significant being the obligation to pay taxes, thus creating a new type of association between the individual and the State. The article also analyses the consequences of digitization on this emergent form of citizenship. Since governance and citizen activities are increasingly shifting towards digital space, tax payments and fiscal compliance are simultaneously moving to the online domain. This shift has led to the appearance of the ‘netizen’ taxpayer, defined as a digital citizen who mainly interacts with the State in the digital environment. In this context, we aim to understand how digitization affects citizens’ understanding of their rights and obligations as regards an integrated and globalized digital economy. Problems and prospects of this process are considered, especially in relation to governance and economic equity. Big Tech and the digital economy have led to substantial generation of wealth, giving rise to questions concerning equitable redistribution. The concept of ‘digital redistribution’ is thus identified as a key area of governance requiring formulation of policies that guarantee that the advantages of the digital economy are not monopolized. The article concludes by examining the extent to which traditional assumptions about civic identity, rights and responsibilities are impacted by the interplay between fiscal and digital citizenship.