The tax state and the conundrums of public budgeting

Abstract

This article elaborates on two broad trends that are shaping the public budgets of nations: (i) the tensions of globalisation and its implications on the tax state

and (ii) the process of financialisation. It shows that these two lenses can be employed to understand many of the proposals in the current Indian budget, and indeed even future budgets. They foreshadow the increasing status quoism and incrementalism that has come to mark public budgeting exercises the world over. © 2023 Economic and Political Weekly. All rights reserved.