Collusive tax evasion and social norms

Although collusive tax evasion by buyers and sellers of commodities and also by employers and employees is widespread all over the world, it has rarely been analyzed in the tax evasion literature. To fill this gap and to compare collusive tax evasion with independent tax evasion, this paper develops a simple noncooperative game-theoretic model and confirms the model’s predictions in a laboratory experiment. Because collusive tax evasion involves social interaction, this paper focuses on the effect of social norms and theoretically and empirically demonstrates that the tax compliance norm has a stronger negative effect on the magnitude of collusive tax evasion than on independent tax evasion. The reason for this result is that in a collusive tax evasion game with multiple equilibria social norms affect the range of equilibria and act as an equilibrium selection device, whereas social norms need to be strongly internalized to change the behavior of taxpayers who evade taxes unobservedly.     

An egocentric model of the relations among the opportunity to underreport,social norms,ethical beliefs,and underreporting behavior

A model of the relations among taxpayers’ opportunity, social norms, ethical beliefs, and tax compliance is proposed and tested using structural equation modeling. High opportunity taxpayers, who may personally benefit from evasion, judged evasion as less unethical than low opportunity taxpayers. High and low opportunity taxpayers judged social norms similarly. Further, ethical beliefs partially (fully) mediate the relation between opportunity (social norms) and underreporting. Implications from our study to tax compliance researchers and policy makers are discussed.     

Relationship between tax compliance internationally and selected determinants of tax morale

Tax compliance has been studied by analyzing the individual decision of a representative person between planning and evading taxes. A neglected aspect of tax compliance is the impact of a social contract on tax morale. Such implicit contract between the individual and the state guaranteeing a high level of economic freedom, effective competition laws, an important equity market and high moral norms, is hypothesized to have a positive impact on tax compliance. In this paper, empirical evidence based on data from 30 countries indicate that tax compliance internationally is positively related to the level of economic freedom, the level of importance of the equity market and the effectiveness of competition laws and high moral norms.     

Mapping tax compliance: Assemblages,distributed action and practices: A new way of doing tax research

Tax compliance denotes the act of reporting and paying taxes in accordance with the tax laws. Current social science scholarship on tax compliance can almost entirely be divided into behavioural psychology analyses and critical tax studies. This article, which presents two cases of how tax compliance is constructed, challenges the explanatory reaches of today's social science approaches, arguing that an alternative approach to understanding tax compliance is worthwhile exploring. This other choice of approach, inspired by actor–network theory (ANT), adopts a more practice-oriented focus that studies tax compliance where it takes place as well as what it is made of. Consequently, this article argues that tax compliance is a socio-material assemblage and that complying is a distributed action. The article concludes by highlighting how an ANT approach contributes to the further theoretical development of social science studies of taxation.     

Do investors prefer borrowers from high level of trust cities? Evidence from China’s P2P market

This study explores the effects of trust on individuals’ access to the peer-to-peer (P2P) lending market. We use data collected from the P2P lending market and the China General Social Survey and find that borrowers from cities with high trust have high borrowing success rates, thereby indicating that lenders prefer high social trust. Results in the successful sample indicate that borrowers with high regional trust also receive low loan costs and large loan amounts. Regression of trust and default proves that borrowers from cities with high social trust have minimal default rates, which may be the channel of our conclusion. Results remain unchanged when using slope and river length as instrumental variables. This research further shows that personal heterogeneity, including income level, whether borrowers work in state-owned enterprises or state agencies, and whether the fund is used for development purposes, affects the impact of social trust. In addition, the conclusions continue to be robust after replacing the explanatory variable, control variable, and sample. Finally, this study determines that fairness plays a consistent role with trust, but happiness plays an opposite role.     

Self-perceptions, government policies and tax compliance in Germany

The policy of choice to fight tax non-compliance is an increase in deterrence, i.e. fines and audits, which seems to be well-grounded theoretically as the economics of crime justifies such an increase of the expected costs of illegal activities. In this paper, the impact of subjectively perceived deterrence on undeclared work is analyzed for the German case. Germany is particularly interesting because it considerably increased deterrence to fight tax non-compliance recently. The data set used for this analysis contains several waves of survey data conducted between 2004 and 2008. According to our evidence, (subjectively perceived) deterrence has an impact on undeclared work, but the influence of social norms is similarly important.     

税收心理学的基本概念

税收遵从是近年来公共财政学研究领域的一个热点问题,其研究方法主要采用了经济分析的框架。事实上,税收遵从问题是一个复杂的行为问题,除了经济因素之外,还有一些诸如社会影响、社会规范、态度、道德伦理、价值观等因素也对税收遵从具有重要的影响。对这些因素进行研究就涉及到心理学和社会学的方法,为此甚至产生了专门的税收心理学,其主要运用社会调查、受控实验等方法研究纳税人和税收政策制定者的偏好、认知、态度等。     

论对个人财产转移信托的课税

随着信托业务的不断发展,以财产保护和转移为目标的财产转移信托在我国已经出现。财产转移信托具有特殊的财产权架构,因而导致其税收法律关系出现较为复杂的变化。由于我国尚未建立财产转移信托税收制度,信托税收法律关系的变化将产生不利于社会公平、不利于防范避税等一系列负面问题。本文认为,我国应当按照信托受益人课税和信托主体课税的原则构建相关信托税收制度。     

纳税人税收遵从行为博弈分析

创建基于行为博弈的税收遵从均衡模型,将处于相同税收境况的纳税人视为一个群体,则个体纳税人选择税收遵从策略从纳税人群体角度来看就是以一定的概率选择该种策略。面对正常税务检查与严格税务检查并存的环境,纳税人税收遵从博弈稳定均衡策略形成不但取决于税制的特性,而且依赖于其他纳税人的税收遵从决策。依据税收遵从博弈均衡的形成机理,提出建立我国税收遵从激励监督机制的对策。     

Compliance costs for personal income tax in a transition country: the case of Slovenia

The evaluation of taxpayers' compliance costs has grown in significance within tax system research over the last 15 years. In 2001, two surveys of VAT and personal income taxpayers were conducted in Slovenia to evaluate compliance costs for the 2000 fiscal year. This paper presents the results of research into compliance costs for personal income tax in Slovenia. The results show that compliance costs for personal income tax are relatively low, primarily because most taxpayers consider filing their tax declaration to be a simple procedure, which means that consultancy costs are low.     

SMEs' tax compliance costs and IT adoption: the case of a value-added tax

The objective of this study is to examine the factors behind the adoption of a tax-compliant accounting system among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) using the technological–organizational–environmental (TOE) framework, particularly the role of tax compliance costs in fostering the adoption of this system. This study makes a novel contribution by attempting to link the influence of tax compliance costs to the information technology (IT) adoption literature. Questionnaires were distributed to 401 SMEs, and data were analyzed using partial least squares. The results suggest that the TOE framework is useful for examining factors that affect SMEs' IT adoption decisions; the influence of perceived compatibility, complexity, relative advantage, and mimetic and regulatory pressure is important for the adoption of a value-added tax (VAT)-compliant accounting system. Moreover, the impact of compatibility, learning from external sources, and perceived coercive pressure on the adoption of a VAT-compliant accounting system is moderated by tax compliance cost.     

我国个人所得税后续改革中必须考虑的若干问题

我国工资薪金个人所得税扣除额宜实行分地区浮动制度,而扣除额的调整必须与扣除方式的改革相结合才具有实质意义。从目前的征管实践来看,加强个人所得税管理、有效控制税源是确保改革目标实现的关键。此外,单纯追求个人所得税的公平功能而忽视其效率的作用,对我国社会政治经济的发展将产生不利的影响,也不符合改革的目标。     

Payments in lieu of taxes (PILOTs): How characteristics of requests for PILOTs impact nonprofits’ fairness perceptions and likelihood of compliance

Despite the growing importance of PILOTs for cities and nonprofits, little is known about how characteristics of requests for PILOTs influence fairness perceptions and compliance. We examine how PILOT frame (carrot versus stick) and procedure (systematic versus ad hoc) jointly influence the fairness perceptions of requests for PILOTs and whether these perceptions, in turn, influence the likelihood of compliance. We conduct an experiment and find that requests framed as a carrot, rather than a stick, are perceived as more fair. Requests that are administered in a systematic, rather than ad hoc manner, are perceived as more fair, but only when the request is framed as a carrot. Perceptions of fairness, in turn, increase the likelihood that nonprofits will comply with the request for PILOTs. A follow-up survey of senior nonprofit executives confirms that PILOT frame and procedure affect their perceptions of fairness similar to our experimental participants. Importantly, survey participants indicate that perceptions of fairness are a significant determinant of their cooperation with the city, not only on the request for PILOTs, but also on future collaborative initiatives. We discuss the implications of our study for entities affected by PILOTs.     

Mobilizing grassroots’ technological innovations and traditional knowledge, values and institutions: articulating social and ethical capital

The Honey Bee Network has helped provide a sort of loose platform to converge creative, but uncoordinated individuals across not only Indian states having varying cultural, linguistic and social ethos, but also in 75 other countries around the world. What the Network is trying to do in a rather quiet manner may transform the way the resources—in which poor people are rich—are used in the future. These resources are their knowledge, innovations and sustainable practices.I first argue that the classical concept of social capital does not distinguish between the trust in society created for social good versus social ‘bad’. For instance, the trust among members of the mafia and other socially undesirable networks does not constitute social capital. I am also trying to emphasize that part of social trust which is guided by higher ethical values which may not have become social norms as yet. This is being characterized as ethical capital. Finally, I conclude that the Honey Bee Network has tried to articulate the social and the ethical capital of society at the grassroots to demonstrate how local individuals and communities are trying to solve local problems without any outside help.     

The relation between national cultural dimensions and tax evasion

Although penalties and audits exist, tax evasion is a widespread phenomenon and continues to be a problem for many countries. National culture may contribute to a further understanding of intentional noncompliance across countries. In this study, we investigate the influence of national culture on tax compliance levels across 50 countries. Using Hofstede's (1980) cultural framework as a basis for our hypotheses, we find that a noncompliant country's profile is characterized by high uncertainty avoidance, low individualism, low masculinity, and high power distance. Our results have implications for both research and practice. This is the first study to employ Hofstede's cultural framework as an explanator of international tax compliance diversity and serves as the starting point for the development of an international tax compliance framework. Tax policy implications also are addressed.     

Social trust and the demand for audit quality

Our study explores the association between social trust and the demand for audit quality. We argue that social trust reduces the demand for audit quality because it mitigates agency problems. By exploring Chinese listed firms, we find that firms in regions with higher social trust are less likely to choose big auditors, suggesting that higher social trust is associated with lower demand for audit quality. This finding arises because social trust disciplines managers by creating norms and relational networks to constrain opportunistic behaviors. Moreover, firms in high-trust regions have higher financial reporting quality, and the influence of social trust is more pronounced for firms with severer agency problems. Our results suggest that social trust allows firms to rely less on quality audits.     

La confianza,la satisfacción,las normas relacionales,el oportunismo y la dependencia como antecedentes del compromiso organizacional del trabajador

The objective of this study is to research the most important antecedents of the affective, normative and continuance of employee’s commitment in his/her relation with the firm. The proposal includes both relational or interpersonal antecedents (trust, satisfaction and relational norms) and economic antecedents (dependence and firm opportunism). The testing of the proposed hypotheses with a sample of Mexican employees shows that both affective and normative commitment influence continuance commitment; satisfaction, relational norms and perception of opportunism are the main antecedents of affective commitment; and trust and dependence are the main antecedents of normative commitment. Besides, trust and relational norms contribute to enhance labor satisfaction as well as the antecedents of affective commitment are also, indirectly, antecedents of normative commitment. These results show interesting implications for both the academic and the professional world.     

社会信任、政治关系与民营企业银行贷款

本文基于社会嵌入性理论的研究视角,考察了社会信任与政治关系对民营企业银行贷款(贷款率、贷款成本、贷款期限)的影响,研究发现,社会信任与政治关系对民营企业银行贷款具有显著影响,且二者之间存在替代效应,但它们产生的经济后果不同。本文研究结果表明,社会信任与政治关系之类的社会资本对企业获取资源具有工具性效用,但是不同社会资本工具性效用产生的经济后果存在着显著差异,在我国转轨经济背景下,对企业社会资本的培育应予以正确的引导和制度的规范。     

Determinants of tax evasion: A cross-country investigation

The purpose of this study is to expand on the work of Riahi-Belkaoiu [Riahi-Belkaoiu, A. (2004). Relationship between tax compliance internationally and selected determinants of tax morale. Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, 13, 135-143] and systematically investigate, on a cross-country basis, many of the key determinants of tax evasion identified by Jackson and Milliron [Jackson, B. R., & Milliron, V. C. (1986). Tax compliance research: findings, problems and prospects. Journal of Accounting Literature, 5, 125-165]. Based on data for 45 countries, the results of the OLS regression analysis show that non-economic determinants have the strongest impact on tax evasion. Specifically, complexity is the most important determinant of tax evasion. Other important determinants of tax evasion are education, income source, fairness and tax morale. Overall, the regression results indicate that the lower the level of complexity and the higher the level of general education, services income source, fairness and tax morale, the lower is the level of tax evasion across countries. These findings remain robust to a broad range of cross-country control variables, an alternative tax evasion measure and various interactions.     

Behavioral dynamics of tax compliance when taxpayer assistance services are available

This research utilizes a laboratory experiment involving a large and diverse set of participants to investigate the behavioral dynamics of tax reporting in a setting where tax liability is uncertain and the tax agency makes a service available to help resolve the uncertainty. Our design varies the level of liability uncertainty, as well as the cost and quality of the information service. We find that, in the absence of an information service regime, the behavioral response to past audits, whether penalizing or not, is to report a lower tax liability. However, with an information service present (regardless of whether it is accessed), behavioral responses to past audits are no longer found. Interestingly, information service acquisition decreases modestly in response to a penalizing audit, although as the experiment progressed a larger proportion of participants were compliant, offsetting this effect. Mirroring the few experimental studies that have investigated tax liability information services, we find that providing these services has a strong and positive effect on tax compliance.