Tax Credits as an accounting technology of government: “showing my boys they have to work, because that is what happens”
Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal
ISSN: 0951-3574
Article publication date: 28 January 2021
Issue publication date: 10 March 2021
Abstract
Purpose
The study explores the role of accounting technologies of government (ATGs) associated with UK Tax Credits and their impact on claimants' motivations, behaviour and identities. The aim of this study is to deepen empirical and conceptual understandings of how ATGs of tax authorities transform claimants into “entrepreneurs of the self”.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors approach Tax Credits (TC) as a case study to examine how ATGs articulate and operationalise neoliberal ideology through a complex network of inscription devices, expertise and locales. They adopt an ethnographic approach based on interviews, archival data and field notes to gain a deep understanding of citizens' lived experiences of ATGs when claiming Tax Credits.
Findings
The authors find that ATGs play a key role in transforming TC claimants into self-disciplined “citizen-subjects” whose decisions are informed by market logic. When claiming TC, citizens interact with ATGs and are transformed into “entrepreneurs of the self” who internalise neoliberal ideology and associated beliefs and assumptions of poverty, work and the welfare state. In this process of subjectification, ATGs (re)construct their identities from welfare recipients to “responsible” and “accountable” hardworking individuals and families. However, ATGs perversely disempower claimants who lack the required human capital for becoming responsible for their own welfare, and thus ultimately maintain socio-economic inequality.
Research limitations/implications
Participants were drawn from a relatively narrow geographic area.
Practical implications
The authors reveal how accounting as a technology of government (dis)empowers individuals vis-à-vis the state and spurs inequality dependent on personal circumstances and calculative skills.
Originality/value
The authors contribute to the accounting literature by showing how neoliberal ideology is articulated, operationalised and reinforced by dynamic and repetitive interactions with ATGs of the UK TC scheme. The study helps deepen the understanding of the processes through which socially and economically disadvantaged individuals are transformed into self-governing economic agents responsible for their own welfare.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This paper forms part of a special section “Neoliberalism and Management Accounting”, guest edited by Professor Danture Wickramasinghe, Professor Christine Cooper and Dr Chandana Alawattage.The authors would like to thank all of their interviewees who shared their, often distressing, experiences with them.
Citation
Closs-Davies, S.C., Merkl-Davies, D.M. and Bartels, K.P.R. (2021), "Tax Credits as an accounting technology of government: “showing my boys they have to work, because that is what happens”", Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Vol. 34 No. 3, pp. 531-557. https://doi.org/10.1108/AAAJ-12-2018-3798
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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