Taxation without contestation: the making of an invisible tax revolution in postsocialist Poland

Abstract Major changes in tax systems are likely to be met with strong opposition as they inevitably create distinct social groups, which can then be mobilized against each other or against those in power. Why, then, was Poland able to introduce a new income tax system in the 1990s without significant contestation? This article argues that four interrelated factors that facilitated this outcome: taxation through pacification, taxation without cognitive obligations, taxation without negative media representation, and taxation without political articulation. In the case of each factor, I show how actions and inactions of specific actors prevented the new tax system from becoming ‘painfully visible’. The article concludes by proposing that, beyond the case, this theoretical framework can be extended to the lack of backlash against, what can be called, the personal data tax that is collected by digital platforms. The article draws on archival work, qualitative interviews, and analysis of the media.