Author ORCID Identifier
Semester
Summer
Date of Graduation
2026
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Type
PhD
College
Eberly College of Arts and Sciences
Department
Political Science
Committee Chair
Erik S. Herron
Committee Member
Matthew Jacobsmeier
Committee Member
William Franko
Committee Member
Arabinda Basistha
Abstract
The Tax Governance Triangle: An Attitudinal Theory of State Capacity and Tax Compliance
Abdul Wahid Uqaily
Variation in states' extractive capacity is a central puzzle in comparative politics and political economy. Existing scholarship explains this variation largely through institutional quality, administrative capability, or coercive enforcement, with less attention to the attitudinal foundations that shape key actors' willingness to sustain an effective fiscal system. This dissertation addresses that gap by asking: how do the attitudes and behaviors of citizens, bureaucrats, and elites shape variation in a state's extractive capacity?
To answer this question, the dissertation develops the “Tax Governance Triangle” and advances an “Attitudinal Theory of State Capacity,” arguing that extractive capacity emerges not solely from institutional design or administrative competence but from the reciprocal relationship among three principal actors: citizens, bureaucrats, and elites. Public tax morale, bureaucratic legitimacy, and elite commitment to equitable taxation collectively shape fiscal legitimacy and, in turn, the state's capacity to mobilize revenue.
The dissertation uses a mixed-methods design combining comparative quantitative, administrative, and qualitative evidence. Citizen attitudes are examined through World Values Survey data from Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh. Bureaucratic behavior is analyzed using publicly disclosed tax micro-data and payroll records for Pakistan's federal civil servants, measuring actual tax compliance rather than self-reported data. Elite attitudes are explored through thirteen semi-structured interviews with senior policymakers, tax administrators, legislators, academics, and practitioners, analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis.
The findings show that public attitudes alone cannot explain extractive capacity: although trust in administrative and political institutions is associated with stronger tax morale among citizens, bureaucrats' tax compliance is not sustained consistently and offers a weak signal for public emulation. Qualitative findings further show that elite influence over tax policy, institutional design, and reform implementation is the principal mechanism strengthening or constraining extractive capacity. Together, the three analyses indicate that sustainable revenue mobilization depends on the interaction of public attitudes, bureaucratic legitimacy, and elite incentives, not on administrative enforcement alone.
By integrating these three dimensions into a single framework, the dissertation makes theoretical, empirical, and policy contributions to the literature on state capacity, comparative political economy, and tax governance. It reconceptualizes extractive capacity as an attitudinally embedded, politically mediated process, showing that durable gains in tax compliance require stronger administrative institutions alongside greater public confidence in state institutions, bureaucratic commitment to modeling tax compliance, and elite support for broad-based, equitable taxation.
Recommended Citation
Uqaily, Abdul Wahid, "The Tax Governance Triangle: An Attitudinal Theory of State Capacity and Tax Compliance." (2026). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD). 13444.
https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/13444