About Mind The Tax with Dr Miranda Sheild Johansson
This podcast series is for all those curious about tax. Taxes are everywhere - when we get paid for work, when we consume, when we sell, when we inherit - we all pay, or evade, taxes. But what do taxes do, how do they shape our societies, relationships with each other, and even our sense of self?
Miranda Sheild Johansson, a Social Anthropologist working at UCL researches what she calls ‘the sociality of tax’.
This means not looking at economic models of taxes or focusing on how much revenue flows to the exchequer, but instead digging into the different ways that tax shapes our societies and relationships.
How taxes impact how we think about ourselves and the things we do - what kinds of work counts as proper work?
Taxes also shape our moral landscapes and perceptions about who contributes to society - who owes whom; where wealth is created; the place of the state in the lives of people.
In this podcast Miranda talks to academics and activists to explore the social side of tax.
Miranda at UCL:
https://profiles.ucl.ac.uk/57922-miranda-sheild-johansson (https://profiles.ucl.ac.uk/57922-miranda-sheild-johansson)
UCL Anthropology Department:
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/social-historical-sciences/anthropology/research/sociality-tax (https://www.ucl.ac.uk/social-historical-sciences/anthropology/research/sociality-tax)
Anthropology of Tax Network:
https://tax-anthro.net/ (https://tax-anthro.net/)
Download Anthropology of Tax, Ethnographies of Fiscal Relations, edited by Johanna Mugler (https://www.cambridge.org/core/search?filters%5BauthorTerms%5D=Johanna%20Mugler&eventCode=SE-AU), Universität Bern, Switzerland, Miranda Sheild Johansson (https://www.cambridge.org/core/search?filters%5BauthorTerms%5D=Miranda%20Sheild%20Johansson&eventCode=SE-AU), University College London, Robin Smith (https://www.cambridge.org/core/search?filters%5BauthorTerms%5D=Robin%20Smith&eventCode=SE-AU), Copenhagen Business School
https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/anthropology-and-tax/93C973858A6DE6910C34E4C9ECD23F62 (https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/anthropology-and-tax/93C973858A6DE6910C34E4C9ECD23F62)
Open Encyclopedia of Anthropology - Tax:
https://www.anthroencyclopedia.com/entry/tax (https://www.anthroencyclopedia.com/entry/tax)
This is a Sonoloom Podcast Production - www.sonoloom.com
Ep6 - Charles Dolph and Anna-Riikka Kauppinen - A tale of two tax systems
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This episode explores different tax systems and people's relationship with the state. Dr Charles Dolph, a colleague and fellow tax enthusiast at UCL, reflects on his experience of moving from the US to the UK and the differences between the two tax systems — noting, above all, how much easier it is to pay tax in the UK.
The episode also features Anna-Rikka Kauppinen, an anthropologist at the Geneva Graduate Institute (who appears in another episode discussing mega-churches and tithing). Here, the focus shifts to one of her research participants in Ghana, Vaida, who becomes a taxpayer for the first time. Vaida shares how she expects paying tax to the state to change her business.
Link to Charles’s work:
https://profiles.ucl.ac.uk/92548-charles-dolph (https://profiles.ucl.ac.uk/92548-charles-dolph)
Charles’s article on the Bolivian Wealth Tax:
https://rai.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1467-9655.70011 (https://rai.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1467-9655.70011)
Link to Anna-Riikka Kauppinen:
https://www.graduateinstitute.ch/faculty/anna-riikka-kauppinen (https://www.graduateinstitute.ch/faculty/anna-riikka-kauppinen)
Anna-Riikka’s article on Vaida and becoming a taxpayer in Ghana:
https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/anthropology-and-tax/nurturing-state-an-intimate-portrait-of-becoming-a-taxpayer-in-ghana/05FB0240C7E5A4ECCF9A83134A238F5A (https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/anthropology-and-tax/nurturing-state-an-intimate-portrait-of-becoming-a-taxpayer-in-ghana/05FB0240C7E5A4ECCF9A83134A238F5A)
This is a Sonoloom Podcasts Production - www.sonoloom.com
22 Sept 2026
Ep5 - Prof. Soumhya Venkatesan on tax and freedom
Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note. (https://rss.com/podcasts/mind-the-tax-with-dr-miranda-sheild-johansson/voicemail)
In this episode on libertarian critiques of tax, Miranda talks to Professor Soumhya Venkatesan from the University of Manchester. Soumhya is an incredibly productive and insightful academic and friend; one of the many strings to her bow is her research with libertarians in the UK — a group who hold very strong and particular views about taxes and freedom. Had they been better prepared, they might have done some smoking, drinking and gambling during the recording to get into the spirit of it.
Links to Soumhya’s work:
https://research.manchester.ac.uk/en/persons/soumhya.venkatesan (https://research.manchester.ac.uk/en/persons/soumhya.venkatesan)
Soumhya’s chapter on freedom:
https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/cambridge-handbook-for-the-anthropology-of-ethics/freedom/99BF428032D6CBC7A46302DD5740019E (https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/cambridge-handbook-for-the-anthropology-of-ethics/freedom/99BF428032D6CBC7A46302DD5740019E)
Soumhya’s article on ethics and tax:
https://www.berghahnjournals.com/view/journals/social-analysis/64/2/sa640208.xml (https://www.berghahnjournals.com/view/journals/social-analysis/64/2/sa640208.xml)
This is a Sonoloom Podcasts Production - www.sonoloom.com
22 Sept 2026
Ep4 - Dora-Olivia Vicol and Johanna Mugler on work, migration and global relations
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In this episode on work, the mobile workforce and global relations, Miranda talks to Dr Dora-Olivia Vicol and Dr Johanna Mugler.
Johanna is a social anthropologist and Senior Researcher at the University of Fribourg. She is also an unusual anthropologist in that she “studies up,” spending time in large institutions with people who do not have time and do not necessarily want to share — a tricky proposition for an anthropologist.
This work is especially important because it is easy to forget that in places of politics and bureaucracy there is also culture, a way of doing things. Doing anthropology with the powerful is one of the key tasks in the discipline. In this episode, Miranda talks to Johanna about her research with tax norm negotiators at the OECD — who holds power in these negotiations and why it matters, and whether supranational agreements or institutions could create global redistribution. Listeners will hear from Johanna later in the episode.
Olivia is someone Miranda finds truly inspiring. Olivia became interested in employment justice while researching for her PhD in anthropology, doing fieldwork with Romanian migrants and realising there was a real need for advice and support within this community.
After her PhD, instead of chasing academic posts, she set up the Work Rights Centre, a charity dedicated to helping migrants and disadvantaged Britons access employment justice and improve their social mobility. The charity has grown exponentially since it was founded. Advancing the migrant perspective is especially revealing when studying tax — how do people come to belong, and how do they navigate multiple fiscal systems?
Links to Olivia’s work:
https://www.workrightscentre.org/ (https://www.workrightscentre.org/)
Publications by Olivia:
https://www.berghahnjournals.com/view/journals/social-analysis/64/2/sa640206.xml (https://www.berghahnjournals.com/view/journals/social-analysis/64/2/sa640206.xml)
https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/anthropology-and-tax/becoming-the-good-migrant-how-romanian-migrants-mobilise-taxpayer-status/1868DD9E3692210265A2C93855B03AAA (https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/anthropology-and-tax/becoming-the-good-migrant-how-romanian-migrants-mobilise-taxpayer-status/1868DD9E3692210265A2C93855B03AAA)
Links to Johanna’s work:
https://www.unifr.ch/directory/en/people/446205/5c650 (https://www.unifr.ch/directory/en/people/446205/5c650)
Publications by Johanna on international tax relations:
https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/anthropology-and-tax/sharing-beyond-the-state-international-tax-norm-negotiations-at-the-oecd/0E9A2AB9DFCD372CB2880498104FBA04 (https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/anthropology-and-tax/sharing-beyond-the-state-international-tax-norm-negotiations-at-the-oecd/0E9A2AB9DFCD372CB2880498104FBA04)
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07329113.2018.1557434 (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07329113.2018.1557434)
This is a Sonoloom Podcasts Production - www.sonoloom.com
22 Sept 2026
Ep3 - Mike Lewis on fairness and tax systems
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In this episode on fairness and how fiscal systems work, Miranda talks to Mike Lewis, the director of Tax Watch. Mike doesn’t have a traditional background in tax or policy; he cut his teeth working as a criminal financial investigator and sanctions expert for the UN — a fitting training ground for his role as Director of Tax Watch.
Mike and Tax Watch investigate, research and publish on the UK tax system, highlighting the unfair and the absurd. Their findings are sobering — offering up-to-date takes on the fiscal system and people’s attitudes to tax — but they also propose solutions and alternatives. Tax systems can change, and do.
Links to Mike’s work:
https://www.mikelewisresearch.com/ (https://www.mikelewisresearch.com/)
https://www.taxwatchuk.org/ (https://www.taxwatchuk.org/)
22 Sept 2026
Ep2 - Prof. Ruth Braunstein and Anna-Riikka Kauppinen on religion and the morality of tax
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In this episode on religion, Miranda talks to sociologist and religious scholar Professor Ruth Braunstein and anthropologist Dr Anna Rikka-Kauppinen.
Anna-Rikka and Miranda have collaborated and crossed paths many times over the years. Anna-Rikka’s work on understanding capitalism in Africa today is never normative, but always impressively considers whole contexts. In looking at taxes in Ghana, she began working with mega-churches - exploring how people think about their taxes alongside their tithes, and whether all money is the same, or whether it is different.
Miranda first came across Ruth’s work when her book ‘My Tax Dollars: The Morality of Taxpaying in America’ came out last year, but admits to not having read it until hearing Ruth on a podcast discussing religion and tax.
On that podcast, Ruth addressed deep philosophical questions that resonated with Miranda’s own work - how people conceptualise the tax that they pay, and why these conceptualisations are forged through political, social and religious frameworks.
Ruth speaks openly about growing up in a religious household, and this has shaped the kinds of questions she asks. Ruth also hosts an incredible podcast of her own, ‘When the Wolves Came’, about evangelical Christians in the US rejecting extremism - another fascinating element of religious politics.
Links to Ruth’s work:
https://soc.jhu.edu/directory/ruth-braunstein/ (https://soc.jhu.edu/directory/ruth-braunstein/)
https://www.ruthbraunstein.com/ (https://www.ruthbraunstein.com/)
My Tax Dollars: The Morality of Taxpaying in America
https://bookshop.org/p/books/my-tax-dollars-the-morality-of-taxpaying-in-america-ruth-braunstein/1ebf09e335468984?ean=9780691254999&next=t&affiliate=104582 (https://bookshop.org/p/books/my-tax-dollars-the-morality-of-taxpaying-in-america-ruth-braunstein/1ebf09e335468984?ean=9780691254999&next=t&affiliate=104582)
Ruth’s podcast:
https://www.ruthbraunstein.com/podcast (https://www.ruthbraunstein.com/podcast)
Links to Anna-Riikka work:
https://www.graduateinstitute.ch/faculty/anna-riikka-kauppinen (https://www.graduateinstitute.ch/faculty/anna-riikka-kauppinen)
Article by Anna-Riikka on taxes and mega churches:
https://www.berghahnjournals.com/view/journals/social-analysis/64/2/sa640203.xml (https://www.berghahnjournals.com/view/journals/social-analysis/64/2/sa640203.xml)
This is a Sonoloom Podcasts Production - www.sonoloom.com
21 Sept 2026
Ep1 - Prof. Gurminder K Bhambra on nations, colonialism and belonging
Hey! I'd love to hear your thoughts, send me a voice note. (https://rss.com/podcasts/mind-the-tax-with-dr-miranda-sheild-johansson/voicemail)
In this episode, Miranda talks to Professor Gurminder Bhambra. Miranda first came to Gurminder’s work while editing Anthropology and Tax, having been searching for data on tax and colonialism.
Gurminder’s research on how taxes paid in the colonies to the British state helped build the British welfare state offered exactly the historically grounded story Miranda wanted to highlight — one that moves us away from simple models of how taxes work.
The episode also explores the story of Gurminder’s family and the broader struggle for migrants to belong when their contributions are rendered invisible — a theme that feels especially urgent in today’s political climate, in which the rights and obligations of different communities are often scrutinised, and not always generously.
Links to Gurminder’s work:
https://profiles.sussex.ac.uk/p27518-gurminder-bhambra (https://profiles.sussex.ac.uk/p27518-gurminder-bhambra)
https://gkbhambra.net/ (https://gkbhambra.net/)
Imperial Inequalities: The politics of economic governance across European empires:
https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526166142/ (https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526166142/)
Link to work by Kyle Willmott:
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/law-and-society-review/article/abs/taxes-taxpayers-and-settler-colonialism-toward-a-critical-fiscal-sociology-of-tax-as-white-property/A64C397E269523DDA5846F28160AC3FD (https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/law-and-society-review/article/abs/taxes-taxpayers-and-settler-colonialism-toward-a-critical-fiscal-sociology-of-tax-as-white-property/A64C397E269523DDA5846F28160AC3FD)
This is a Sonoloom Podcast Production - www.sonoloom.com (https://www.sonoloom.com)
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