Rethinking taxes as the gift: Maussian interventions and radical fiscal imaginaries

The ubiquity of the neoliberal counter-revolution , crystallized in the relentless drive to transform the welfare state into an austerity-driven state, has produced a series of paradoxes. As the welfare state sinks deeper into deadlock, tax resistance intensifies. Governments, however, in times of broken social contract, still have to stage ever new forms of consent-manufacturing to make taxation once again acceptable. Rather than painting a pessimistic picture, this paper attempts to reimagine taxes within Maussian gift theory to rupture ‘normal’ fiscal imaginaries. In doing so, I move beyond merely affirming the functional necessity of taxes and plunge into the fractured ontology of fiscal obligation itself, exposing the coercive and unreciprocated nature of the modern fiscal gift while seeking pathways to reverse the alienated hau . Through two dialectical thought experiments, this paper reconceptualizes taxation, proposing two models of taxation-as-gift: one within the state and one beyond the state's borders.