Labelling ‘taxes’: tax word aversion
MAR 2.06 Marshall Building, 44 Lincoln's Inn Fields, LSE, United KingdomHow the word tax is used matters. In the UK, for example, the word ‘tax’ often can be seen to communicate a quick meaning to readers. The ‘bedroom tax’ became shorthand for a retraction of welfare benefits;1 the ‘period tax’, or ‘tampon tax’, referred to the VAT on sanitary products (similar to the ‘pasty tax’ from 2012, which was also the VAT on baked goods)2 ; 3 and, the ‘death tax’, which was linked to the proposed changes to probate fees in 2018.
Speaker: Dr Amy Lawton

