Non-Contractarian Thinking in Bolivia’s Fiscal System

The Social Contract is often used as an organizing principle of fiscal imaginaries or realities. However, data from research with taxpayers can show us that a contractarian framing of fiscal relations does not always tally with lived experiences or actual imaginaries of taxpayers. In peri-urban Cochabamba, Bolivia, the ‘informally’ employed population reject the government's fiscal offer of taxes in return for welfare, infrastructure, and rights, including the offer's underlying contractarian logic. Instead, they disaggregate the fiscal landscape by choosing to engage with some taxes and avoid others, understanding the exchanges that do take place as vehicles for independence from the state as opposed to interdependence with the state. This paper explores both instances of when the social contract, as a conceptual model, does not fit fiscal realities and discusses the impact of the social contract as an idea on state society relations.