Tax Morale
26 Pages Posted: 27 Sep 2014
There are 2 versions of this paper
Tax Morale
Tax Morale
Abstract
Standard economic models of tax compliance have focused on enforcement-driven compliance. Notably, tax administrators also tend to place a great deal of emphasis on the importance of improving "tax morale" by encouraging voluntary compliance, creating a culture of compliance, and changing social norms. Tax morale does indeed appear to be an important component of compliance decisions, and there is strong evidence that tax morale operates through a variety of underlying channels. There is less evidence - to date - that indicates we know how to leverage these channels to improve compliance and revenue collection in a consistently successful way.
Keywords: tax compliance, intrinsic motivation, reciprocity, social effects, culture
JEL Classification: H26
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation