‘I don’t think there is any moral basis for taking money away from people’: using discursive psychology to explore the complexity of talk about tax

ABSTRACT

The increasing recognition of the negative impact of income inequality has highlighted the importance of taxation which can function as a redistributive mechanism. Previous critical social psychological research found that talk about restricting the welfare state, that is funded through tax, is formed of ideology that supports the maintenance of income inequality. Therefore, this research explores how speakers use talk about tax to justify income inequality during a UK BBC radio discussion, ‘Moral Maze: The moral purpose of tax’ which involved public figures discussing the role of tax. This programme was analysed from a critical discursive psychological perspective. It was found that two contrasting constructions of tax were presented: tax as a collective responsibility or tax as an individual burden, whereby speakers drew on social justice and individualistic ideology respectively. Arguments for high tax rates are problematic due to the acceptability of inequality in a meritocracy. By presenting wealthy individuals as more deserving than the less affluent, arguments for higher tax come to be challenged.

KEYWORDS:

• Taxation
• income inequality
• discursive psychology
• just world
• meritocracy
• ideology

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Philippa Carr is a PhD student at Coventry University exploring the construction of super-rich identity. She is interested in the use of Discursive Psychology to explore talk in the media about economic inequality and taxation. In addition to this, Philippa is examining how international students learning Japanese use talk about national identity and culture.

Dr Simon Goodman is a Research Fellow at Coventry University. His research uses discursive psychology to address a number of issues including the discursive construction of asylum seekers and refugees. His work focuses on what is, and what is not, considered to be racist particularly with regard to asylum seeking. His other interests include the British public’s understanding of income inequality, the far right and political discourse.

Adam Jowett is a Senior Lecturer in Social Psychology at Coventry University. He is a critical psychologist whose research interests cohere around inequalities, lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT) issues and health. His previous research has explored how inequalities are rhetorically justified within the media, particularly within same-sex marriage debates. He is as Associate Editor of Psychology & Sexuality and former Editor of Psychology of Sexualities Review.

ORCID

Philippa Carr http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8503-6365

Simon Goodman http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5007-3740

Adam Jowett http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7312-8484