Time Bank, Political Dialogue, Taxation, Solidarity Economy

Abstract: The paper will first shortly present the context of the current civilizational crisis and frame some of the key transformative forces needed. One of these key forces, it will be suggested is the building of local economies that interlink in a global solidarity network. The case of Time Banking, and especially Helsinki’s local Time Bank will be used as a case-study and example to show what potential economic, political and social transformative power lies in local solidarity economy. By going through the internal formations and dynamics of Helsinki’s Time Bank and its collisions and meeting points with the State, we will outline and report on the political dialogues which have emerged as a consequence to new taxation guidelines provided by the Finnish Tax Administration, suggesting that this collision or meeting point has opened up a space for political dialogue with potentially sizable transformative and radical implications.
Keywords: Time Bank, Political Dialogue, Taxation, Solidarity Economy