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Are you willing to pay? War and citizen's readiness to pay tax: The case of Ukraine

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  • Lesley-Ann Daniels
  • Frank Borge Wietzke

Abstract

Bellicose theories of state-building suggest that wars enable the emergence of strong states via the mechanism of increased war-time fiscal capacities. We explore the hitherto little-analysed micro-level foundations of this claim. Does the experience of war increase public support for higher taxation? Furthermore, is this support limited to only defensive purposes, or does it extend to other war-related but forward-looking goals like post-war reconstruction and cohesion-building? We implement a survey experiment during the ongoing war in Ukraine to address the above questions.

Suggested Citation

  • Lesley-Ann Daniels & Frank Borge Wietzke, 2025. "Are you willing to pay? War and citizen's readiness to pay tax: The case of Ukraine," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2025-57, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    • Handle: RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2025-57
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    References listed on IDEAS

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