Taxation and human rights are closely interconnected in theory and practice. Taxation is about governance, and governance is about service provision, safety and human rights – and the rights of people as citizens guaranteed within the constitution and international conventions and treaties, signed, ratied and implemented by state. Thus, taxation affects which resources stay in private versus public hands, which activities are encouraged or discouraged, how much is available to the state, and who pays for and receives the public goods and services the state provides. Human rights, in turn, inform not only how tax policy should be made, but what policies are permissible, when, and why, setting parameters for the revenue-raising objectives and distributive effects of taxation, as well as the processes by which tax laws are adopted and implemented. In short, tax affects the realization of human rights in all countries—developed and developing alike—through its role in resource mobilization, redistribution, regulation, and representation.
Key in these state-citizen relationships are trust and impartiality, and the mutual recognition of a common social contract that binds people together in society. Trust is not just interpersonal but includes trust to the other citizen, the institutions and the politicians. However, trust can easily be undermined by corruption, lack of service provision and participation.