IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/beh/jbepv1/v3y2019i1p12-22.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Taxman Cometh: Behavioural Approaches to Improving Tax Compliance in India

Author

Listed:
  • Anirudh Tagat

    (Department of Economics, Monk Prayogshala, India.)

Abstract

Academics and policymakers are increasingly looking to understand the underlying behavioural motives for tax compliance in developing and developed countries. Contemporary models of tax compliance view the decision to evade as an act of dishonesty, and experimental approaches have tested the impact of social norms in influencing such behaviour. India is a prime avenue to explore such an intervention given the lack of past research in this area as well as recent policy focus on curbing tax evasion and widening the tax base. This paper provides an adapted behavioural intervention for curbing tax evasion in India tailored for its unique socio-cultural context. We outline the experimental design and potential challenges in implementation. Implications for policy and potential areas of government intervention are provided, such as adopting a stance of legitimate power that aims to build trust among citizens and the government, and improve tax morale.

Suggested Citation

  • Anirudh Tagat, 2019. "The Taxman Cometh: Behavioural Approaches to Improving Tax Compliance in India," Journal of Behavioral Economics for Policy, Society for the Advancement of Behavioral Economics (SABE), vol. 3(1), pages 12-22, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:beh:jbepv1:v:3:y:2019:i:1:p:12-22
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://sabeconomics.org/journal/RePEc/beh/JBEPv1/articles/JBEP-3-1-4.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Cappelen, Alexander W. & Sørensen, Erik Ø. & Tungodden, Bertil, 2013. "When do we lie?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 258-265.
    2. Pascual-Ezama, David & Fosgaard, Toke R. & Cardenas, Juan Camilo & Kujal, Praveen & Veszteg, Robert & Gil-Gómez de Liaño, Beatriz & Gunia, Brian & Weichselbaumer, Doris & Hilken, Katharina & Antinyan,, 2015. "Context-dependent cheating: Experimental evidence from 16 countries," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 379-386.
    3. M. Govinda Rao & R. Kavita Rao, 2005. "Trends and Issues in Tax Policy and Reform in India," India Policy Forum, Global Economy and Development Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 2(1), pages 55-122.
    4. Friesen, Lana & Gangadharan, Lata, 2013. "Designing self-reporting regimes to encourage truth telling: An experimental study," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 90-102.
    5. Gilles Grolleau & Martin G. Kocher & Angela Sutan, 2014. "Cheating and Loss Aversion: Do People Lie More to Avoid a Loss?," CESifo Working Paper Series 4965, CESifo.
    6. Castro, Lucio & Scartascini, Carlos, 2015. "Tax compliance and enforcement in the pampas evidence from a field experiment," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 65-82.
    7. Grolleau, Gilles & Kocher, Martin G. & Sutan, Angela, 2016. "Cheating and Loss Aversion: Do People Cheat More to Avoid a Loss?," Munich Reprints in Economics 43493, University of Munich, Department of Economics.
    8. Robert Innes, 2017. "Lie aversion and self-reporting in optimal law enforcement," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 52(2), pages 107-131, October.
    9. Das-Gupta, Arindam & Lahiri, Radhika & Mookherjee, Dilip, 1995. "Income tax compliance in India: An empirical analysis," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 23(12), pages 2051-2064, December.
    10. Santiago Sánchez-Pagés & Marc Vorsatz, 2009. "Enjoy the silence: an experiment on truth-telling," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 12(2), pages 220-241, June.
    11. Srinivasan, T. N., 1973. "Tax evasion: A model," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 2(4), pages 339-346.
    12. Giulia Mascagni, 2018. "From The Lab To The Field: A Review Of Tax Experiments," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(2), pages 273-301, April.
    13. Gilles Grolleau & Martin G. Kocher & Angela Sutan, 2016. "Cheating and Loss Aversion: Do People Cheat More to Avoid a Loss?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 62(12), pages 3428-3438, December.
    14. Hallsworth, Michael & List, John A. & Metcalfe, Robert D. & Vlaev, Ivo, 2017. "The behavioralist as tax collector: Using natural field experiments to enhance tax compliance," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 14-31.
    15. Friesen, Lana & Gangadharan, Lata, 2012. "Individual level evidence of dishonesty and the gender effect," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 117(3), pages 624-626.
    16. Castro, Lucio & Scartascini, Carlos, 2015. "Tax compliance and enforcement in the pampas evidence from a field experiment," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 65-82.
    17. Allingham, Michael G. & Sandmo, Agnar, 1972. "Income tax evasion: a theoretical analysis," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 1(3-4), pages 323-338, November.
    18. Uri Gneezy, 2005. "Deception: The Role of Consequences," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(1), pages 384-394, March.
    19. Tandon, Suranjali & Rao, R. Kavita, 2017. "Tax Compliance in India: An Experimental Approach," Working Papers 17/207, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy.
    20. Mishra, Prachi & Subramanian, Arvind & Topalova, Petia, 2008. "Tariffs, enforcement, and customs evasion: Evidence from India," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(10-11), pages 1907-1925, October.
    21. Alm, James & Bernasconi, Michele & Laury, Susan & Lee, Daniel J. & Wallace, Sally, 2017. "Culture, compliance, and confidentiality: Taxpayer behavior in the United States and Italy," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 176-196.
    22. Chaudhuri, Kausik & Schneider, Friedrich & Chattopadhyay, Sumana, 2006. "The size and development of the shadow economy: An empirical investigation from states of India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(2), pages 428-443, August.
    23. Kettle,Stewart & Hernandez,Marco & Ruda,Simon & Sanders,Michael, 2016. "Behavioral interventions in tax compliance : evidence from Guatemala," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7690, The World Bank.
    24. Cummings, Ronald G. & Martinez-Vazquez, Jorge & McKee, Michael & Torgler, Benno, 2009. "Tax morale affects tax compliance: Evidence from surveys and an artefactual field experiment," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 70(3), pages 447-457, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Anirudh Tagat & Hansika Kapoor, 2020. "Go Corona Go! Cultural beliefs and social norms in India during COVID-19," Journal of Behavioral Economics for Policy, Society for the Advancement of Behavioral Economics (SABE), vol. 4(S), pages 9-15, June.
    2. Korgaonkar, Chinmay N, 2022. "The Determinants of Tax Morale in India," Working Papers 22/381, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sanjit Dhami, 2017. "Human Ethics and Virtues: Rethinking the Homo-Economicus Model," CESifo Working Paper Series 6836, CESifo.
    2. James Alm, 2019. "What Motivates Tax Compliance?," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(2), pages 353-388, April.
    3. Kerstin Fiederling & Jörg Schiller & Frauke von Bieberstein, 2018. "Can we Trust Consumers’ Survey Answers when Dealing with Insurance Fraud?," Schmalenbach Business Review, Springer;Schmalenbach-Gesellschaft, vol. 70(2), pages 111-147, May.
    4. Heinicke, Franziska & Rosenkranz, Stephanie & Weitzel, Utz, 2019. "The effect of pledges on the distribution of lying behavior: An online experiment," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 136-151.
    5. Fochmann, Martin & Wolf, Nadja, 2019. "Framing and salience effects in tax evasion decisions – An experiment on underreporting and overdeducting," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 260-277.
    6. repec:idq:ictduk:13726 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Dong, Sarah Xue & Sinning, Mathias, 2022. "Trying to Make a Good First Impression: A Natural Field Experiment to Engage New Entrants to the Tax System," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    8. Kristina M. Bott & Alexander W. Cappelen & Erik Ø. Sørensen & Bertil Tungodden, 2020. "You’ve Got Mail: A Randomized Field Experiment on Tax Evasion," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(7), pages 2801-2819, July.
    9. Simeon Schudy & Susanna Grundmann & Lisa Spantig, 2024. "Individual Preferences for Truth-Telling," CESifo Working Paper Series 11521, CESifo.
    10. Erzo F. P. Luttmer & Monica Singhal, 2014. "Tax Morale," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 28(4), pages 149-168, Fall.
    11. Vranka, Marek & Frollová, Nikola & Pour, Marek & Novakova, Julie & Houdek, Petr, 2019. "Cheating customers in grocery stores: A field study on dishonesty," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    12. Francesco Flaviano Russo, 2018. "Reporting tax evasion," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 35(3), pages 917-933, December.
    13. Grosch, Kerstin & Rau, Holger, 2017. "Gender differences in honesty: The role of social value orientation," University of Göttingen Working Papers in Economics 308, University of Goettingen, Department of Economics.
    14. Olaf Hübler & Lukas Menkhoff & Ulrich Schmidt, 2018. "Who Is Cheating? The Role of Attendants, Risk Aversion, and Affluence," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1736, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    15. Cohen, Isabelle, 2024. "Technology and the state: Building capacity to tax via text," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 236(C).
    16. James Alm & Matthias Kasper, 2020. "Laboratory Experiments," Working Papers 2008, Tulane University, Department of Economics.
    17. Catrine Jacobsen & Toke Reinholt Fosgaard & David Pascual†Ezama, 2018. "Why Do We Lie? A Practical Guide To The Dishonesty Literature," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(2), pages 357-387, April.
    18. Korgaonkar, Chinmay N, 2022. "The Determinants of Tax Morale in India," Working Papers 22/381, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy.
    19. Giulia Mascagni, 2018. "From The Lab To The Field: A Review Of Tax Experiments," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(2), pages 273-301, April.
    20. Olaf Hübler & Melanie Koch & Lukas Menkhoff & Ulrich Schmidt, 2019. "Cheating and Corruption: Evidence from a Household Survey," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1826, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    21. Nathalie Etchart-vincent & Marisa Ratto & Emmanuelle Taugourdeau, 2024. "Why should I comply with taxes if others don't?: an experimental study testing informational effects," Working Papers hal-04635966, HAL.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:beh:jbepv1:v:3:y:2019:i:1:p:12-22. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SABE (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/sabeeea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.