From Overloading to Freeloading in the UK

Good morning Austerity Readers. Today we have a precis of a full paper by Dr. Richard Woodward (Coventry University in the UK) on the rhetoric and observable policies and outcomes tied to a popular narrative in the UK: justifying austerity in the 1970s and post-2008, the 'overload' thesis argues that the state continuously expands to meet the growing desires of the electorate, and the answer to this is austerity. However, Dr. Woodward contrasts this with the practice of corporate 'freeloading', particularly in tax policy. This reminds us that discussions of the capacity and role of the state in everyday life too often focus on the 'dependency' of citizens, and not of corporations.

You can find the precis on our Research Page under 'Taxation and Revenue'! The full paper from Dr. Woodward is forthcoming.

To see more from Richard, check out his profile at https://pureportal.coventry.ac.uk/en/persons/richard-woodward

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