Keywords
Tax
Abstract
In this Article, I consider how negative social meanings can be projected through public revenue systems and propose to examine the link between taxation and representation in a new light.7 First, I discuss how social meanings are attached to money and then explain how, through the use of earmarking, this works in the case of tax revenues. I next briefly review the history of sin taxes at both the state and federal levels. Finally, I use computational linguistic methods to suggest that the fiscal significance of sin taxes, and their cultural significance, are loosely coupled.
Recommended Citation
Bruce G. Carruthers,
The Semantics of Sin Tax: Politics, Morality, and Fiscal Imposition,
84 Fordham L. Rev. 2565
(2016).
Available at: https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/flr/vol84/iss6/8