Sentence:  In order to grant the rich these pleasures, the social contract is reconfigured. [...]  Essential public services are cut so that the rich may pay less <WSD>tax</WSD>. The public realm is privatised, the regulations restraining the ultra-wealthy and the companies they control are abandoned, and Edwardian levels of inequality are almost fetishised. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  Money paid to the government other than for transaction-specific goods and services.