7 - Conclusions

Summary

This concluding chapter extends the scope of the book in three ways. First, it explores the relevance of its argument for other Latin American countries. Second, it examines how well the argument travels outside this region. Finally, since the book’s argument would seem to reflect negatively on the possibility of attenuating Latin America’s profound social divisions, it closes by discussing its implications for this issue and pondering the way forward for advocates of equality. The chapter argues that the account developed to explain tax burden differences among the core cases also sheds much light on at least some other Latin American countries. While its grounding in the distinctive socioeconomic and political context of Latin America means that the argument does not perform as well elsewhere, it does speak usefully to a number of theoretical debates that transcend this region. With regard to the equality question, the chapter finds that a strategy based on gradual reform centered on the fiscal system represents the least bad of the available alternatives.