Paying for the Welfare State in the 21st Century

David Byrne is Emeritus Professor of Applied Social Sciences at Durham University. His work explores the consequences of the post-industrial transition and the implications of the complexity frame of reference for understanding the social world.Sally Ruane works in the School of Applied Social Sciences at De Montfort University, Leicester, and is Deputy Director of the Health Policy Research Unit. Her research interests lie in health service reform, forms of NHS privatisation and taxation.

"Fiscal crisis, class... and taxation. This very welcome book provides a clear analysis of the class-based nature of tax systems in post-industrial capitalism." Nick Ellison, University of York "This is a timely revisit to O'Connor's seminal analysis of the welfare state in a capitalist system. David Byrne and Sally Ruane make an important argument that there is a better alternative to the financial system that is currently destroying social cohesion and feeding rising inequality. Taxation is part of the solution, not the problem." Philip Haynes, University of Brighton

• Introduction: Why understanding the tax system is so importantFiscal crisis in post-industrial capitalismThe history of tax and the development of the fiscal crisis in post-industrial capitalismAusterity, debt and welfare in post-industrial capitalismTax and inequalityThe politics of tax and welfare in post-industrial capitalismConclusion