Australian stories of tax and fairness: a feminist reading of Peter Carey's The Tax Inspector

Abstract

It was Alistair who said, on national television, that being a Tax Officer was the most pleasant work imaginable, like turning on a tap to bring water to parched country. It felt wonderful to bring money flowing out of multi-national reservoirs into child-care centres and hospitals and social services. He grinned when he said it and his creased-up handsome face creased up some more and he cupped his hands as if cool river water were flowing over his big, farmer's fingers and it was hard to watch him and not smile yourself.… He sold taxation as a public good.

It can be seen as a rather perverse notion but I happen to think it's an attractive one: the idea of redistributing wealth. So I'm a writer, and I should be able to make it attractive to the reader. OK, so none of us like paying taxes, but I thought I could at least make readers consider the idea that tax might be a wonderful thing. That's a challenge, of course, an amusing one, so I enjoyed trying. Did I fail or succeed? My opinion varies every time I think about it.