Rural Tax Evasion in Argentina: An Analysis of Tax Evasion Mechanisms and Social Relationships in the Córdoba Grain Market

Antonella Comba

doi:10.5204/ijcjsd.v8i2.1153

Abstract

This paper uses a theoretical perspective based on the ideas of Foucault, critical criminology, and rural criminology, to examine how social relations influenced tax evasion mechanisms in agriculture in the province of Córdoba, Argentina. The paper’s main contribution is to show how tax evasion mechanisms are deeply rooted in social relationships developed in the grain market. Through the analysis of thirty interviews, official statistics of tax evasion convictions, and administrative resolutions issued by the national tax agency, I argue that severe formal controls were unsuccessful in eradicating tax evasion because normative changes could not abruptly annul the social relations that made tax evasion in agriculture possible. On the contrary, tax evasion persisted, although some evasion mechanisms were left aside and new ones were created. Thus, it is necessary to stress the importance of a paper that studies economic crimes in geographic areas outside the global north, such as rural Argentina.

Highlights

Tax evasion in agriculture involves the use of deceptive means to avoid paying taxes that levy each trading operation, in this case cereals and oilseeds
Following the ideas of Cicourel and Kitsuse (2012) in A note on the use of official statistics, if the selective functioning of the criminal justice system is later translated into official statistics, official records can reveal with clarity which normative transgressions are prosecuted and punished by formal control agencies and, more importantly, those which are not
I analyzed the official number of tax evasion convictions from 2013–2015 in Argentina to determine whether this particular violation is a priority for the criminal justice system

Summary

Introduction

Tax evasion in agriculture involves the use of deceptive means to avoid paying taxes that levy each trading operation, in this case cereals and oilseeds. Normative transgressions are produced by — at the same time they reproduce — strong social bonds, which are further nurtured by mutual benefit, secrecy, debt or friendship (Dewey 2016; Pegoraro 2015; Van de Bunt 2014). With this in mind, I used a theoretical perspective based on the contributions of Foucault (1975), critical criminology, and rural criminology, to study how social relations enable the emergence and reproduction of agricultural tax evasion. I explored the lack of punitive feelings and anxieties regarding tax evasion in agriculture and analyzed which sociocultural mechanisms socially immunize tax evasion

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