Preferences for redistribution and tax burdens in Latin America

Abstract

Diverse studies of the political economy of tax composition across middleincome countries have found that Latin American economies tax upperincome groups much less than do other developing regions, such as East Asia and Eastern Europe (i.e. Di John 2006; Mahon, Chapter 8 in this volume). As the Introduction to this volume suggests, this finding is consistent with the relatively low redistributive capacity Latin American states display when compared to advanced capitalist societies. Sharp within-region differences remain even during periods of significant inequality reduction in the region, such as during the most recent decade (see Lustig and Pereira 2016). Against this backdrop, this chapter analyzes cross-national differences in how distributive preferences map onto class and political attitudes.