Tax philosophy versus fiscal sociology: choice problem in teaching

¹ Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, Department of Sociology, Moscow, Russia
² Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, Department of Humanities, Moscow, Russia

^* Corresponding author: tvpanova@fa.ru

Abstract

The inconsistency of the established attitudes in the analysis of taxation within the framework of the philosophy of taxes and fiscal sociology is reflected in the conflict of teaching these disciplines. One of the ways to resolve the conflict was introducing in the educational environment of the world’s leading universities courses that considered the tax culture of contemporary societies. They allowed formulating new concepts that generalized the results of the symbolic analysis of taxation, complementing the consideration of it as a tool of the state’s fiscal policy. The analysis of this practice formed the basis of the present study. According to the results of the study, a way to overcome the indicated conflict is proposed based on the compatibility of the subject certainty of the philosophy of taxes and fiscal sociology. The authors put forward provisions for the coexistence of different tax systems competing in the taxpayer’s mind for the right to represent the social whole. On this basis, the following conceptual statement concerning taxation is formulated as a special kind of way of constructing social reality, which is diversely analyzed in different university courses. This kind of approach can bring the necessary humanitarian component not only to the teaching of special disciplines but also to the educational environment of a contemporary university in general.