IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sos/sosjrn/200105.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Explaining Tax Non-Compliance from a Neo-Institutionalist Perspective: Some Lessons from a Public Opinion Survey in Turkey

Author

Listed:
  • Ayşegül KAYAOĞLU
  • Colin C. WILLIAM

Abstract

Conventionally, those engaging in tax non-compliance are explained as rational economic actors doing so when the benefits outweigh the costs. However, many individuals are still compliant to their tax regimes even when the pay-off from tax evasion is greater than the costs. The result is the emergence of a social actor perspective that gives primacy to tax morale when explaining tax noncompliance. Through the lens of neo-institutionalist theory, this approach argues that citizens behave in ways that reflect the normative, cultural-cognitive and regulatory rules of their institutional environments. To test this theory, we have analyzed a representative micro survey of 2,528 citizens in Turkey. The finding we have obtained in this paper using an econometric analysis is that high tax morale is significantly more likely when there is trust in government (the normative dimension), feeling of belonging to the nation (the cultural-cognitive dimension) and perceptions of the risk and severity of punishment (regulatory-instrumental dimension). It displays the importance of the tax morale approach when explaining and tackling tax non-compliance in Turkey.Classification-JEL: H26, J46, K42, O17, P37.

Suggested Citation

  • Ayşegül KAYAOĞLU & Colin C. WILLIAM, 2020. "Explaining Tax Non-Compliance from a Neo-Institutionalist Perspective: Some Lessons from a Public Opinion Survey in Turkey," Sosyoekonomi Journal, Sosyoekonomi Society.
    • Handle: RePEc:sos:sosjrn:200105
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dergipark.gov.tr/download/article-file/940605
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kaplanoglou, Georgia & Rapanos, Vassilis T., 2015. "Why do people evade taxes? New experimental evidence from Greece," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 21-32.
    2. Gary S. Becker, 1974. "Crime and Punishment: An Economic Approach," NBER Chapters, in: Essays in the Economics of Crime and Punishment, pages 1-54, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Christian Daude & Hamlet Gutiérrez & Ángel Melguizo, 2012. "What Drives Tax Morale?," OECD Development Centre Working Papers 315, OECD Publishing.
    4. Frey, Bruno S. & Torgler, Benno, 2007. "Tax morale and conditional cooperation," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 136-159, March.
    5. Colin C. Williams, 2014. "Confronting the Shadow Economy," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 15370.
    6. Colin C. Williams & Ioana A. Horodnic, 2015. "Explaining and tackling the shadow economy in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania: a tax morale approach," Baltic Journal of Economics, Baltic International Centre for Economic Policy Studies, vol. 15(2), pages 81-98.
    7. Benno Torgler & Friedrich Schneider, 2007. "What Shapes Attitudes Toward Paying Taxes? Evidence from Multicultural European Countries," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 88(2), pages 443-470, June.
    8. Colin C Williams & Ioana Alexandra Horodnic, 2016. "An institutional theory of the informal economy: some lessons from the United Kingdom," International Journal of Social Economics, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 43(7), pages 722-738, July.
    9. Filippin, Antonio & Fiorio, Carlo V. & Viviano, Eliana, 2013. "The effect of tax enforcement on tax morale," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 320-331.
    10. Oliver E. Williamson, 2000. "The New Institutional Economics: Taking Stock, Looking Ahead," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 38(3), pages 595-613, September.
    11. Webb, Justin W. & Bruton, Garry D. & Tihanyi, Laszlo & Ireland, R. Duane, 2013. "Research on entrepreneurship in the informal economy: Framing a research agenda," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 28(5), pages 598-614.
    12. Benno Torgler, 2007. "Tax Compliance and Tax Morale," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 4096.
    13. Colin C Williams & Ioana A Horodnic, 2016. "Tackling the undeclared economy in the European Union: an evaluation of the tax morale approach," Industrial Relations Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(4), pages 322-340, July.
    14. Cevat Bilgin, 2014. "Determinants of tax morale in Spain and Turkey: an empirical analysis," European Journal of Government and Economics, Europa Grande, vol. 3(1), pages 60-74, June.
    15. Benno Torgler & Kristina Murphy, 2004. "Tax Morale in Australia: What Shapes it and Has it Changed over Time?," CREMA Working Paper Series 2004-04, Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA).
    16. Williams Colin C. & Franic Josip, 2015. "Tackling the Propensity towards Undeclared Work: Some Policy Lessons from Croatia," South East European Journal of Economics and Business, Sciendo, vol. 10(1), pages 18-31, April.
    17. Benno Torgler & Friedrich Schneider, 2004. "Does Culture Influence Tax Morale? Evidence from Different European Countries," CREMA Working Paper Series 2004-17, Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA).
    18. Gabriel Leonardo & Jorge Martinez-Vazquez, 2016. "Politicians, bureaucrats, and tax morale: What shapes tax compliance attitudes?," International Center for Public Policy Working Paper Series, at AYSPS, GSU paper1608, International Center for Public Policy, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University.
    19. Gabriele, Mazzolini & Laura, Pagani & Alessandro, Santoro, 2017. "The deterrence effect of real-world operational tax audits," Working Papers 359, University of Milano-Bicocca, Department of Economics, revised 03 Feb 2017.
    20. Mariana Gerstenbluth & Natalia Melgar & Juan Pablo Pagano & Maximo Rossi, 2012. "How do inequality affect tax morale in Latin America and Caribbean?," Revista de Economía del Rosario, Universidad del Rosario, December.
    21. Kirchler,Erich, 2007. "The Economic Psychology of Tax Behaviour," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521876742, January.
    22. 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.
    23. Colin C. Williams & Besnik Krasniqi, 2017. "Evaluating the individual- and country-level variations in tax morale," Journal of Economic Studies, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 44(5), pages 816-832, October.
    24. Luca Andriani, 2016. "Tax morale and prosocial behaviour: evidence from a Palestinian survey," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 40(3), pages 821-841.
    25. Jorge Martinez-Vazquez & Benno Torgler, 2009. "The Evolution of Tax Morale in Modern Spain," Journal of Economic Issues, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(1), pages 1-28.
    26. Benno Torgler & Jorge Martinez-Vazquez, 2005. "The Evolution of Tax Morale in Modern Spain (2005)," International Center for Public Policy Working Paper Series, at AYSPS, GSU paper0521, International Center for Public Policy, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University.
    27. MirHadi Hosseini Kondelaji & Majid Sameti & Hadi Amiri & Rozita Moayedfar, 2016. "Analyzing Determinants of Tax Morale Based on Social Psychology Theory: Case Study of Iran," Iranian Economic Review (IER), Faculty of Economics,University of Tehran.Tehran,Iran, vol. 20(4), pages 579-595, Autumn.
    28. Colin C. Williams & Besnik Krasniqi, 2018. "Explaining Informal Sector Entrepreneurship In Kosovo: An Institutionalist Perspective," Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship (JDE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 23(02), pages 1-20, June.
    29. Murphy, Kristina, 2008. "Enforcing Tax Compliance: To Punish or Persuade?," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 113-135, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Colin C. Williams, 2023. "A Modern Guide to the Informal Economy," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 18668.
    2. Colin Williams, 2020. "An Institutional Theory of Tax Non- Compliance in Bulgaria: a Tax Morale Approach," Economic Alternatives, University of National and World Economy, Sofia, Bulgaria, issue 1, pages 33-49, March.
    3. Colin C WILLIAMS & Slavko BEZEREDI, 2018. "Explaining informal entrepreneurship in South-East Europe: a tax morale approach," Eastern Journal of European Studies, Centre for European Studies, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, vol. 9, pages 47-68, December.
    4. Colin C. Williams & Slavko Bezeredi, 2021. "Explaining informal entrepreneurship in Croatia: a social actor approach," International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 42(3), pages 348-368.
    5. Colin C. Williams & Slavko Bezeredi, 2018. "An Institutional Theory Of Informal Entrepreneurship: Some Lessons From Fyr Macedonia," Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship (JDE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 23(03), pages 1-22, September.
    6. Konstantinos Fotiadis & Prodromos Chatzoglou, 2022. "The tax morale of exhausted taxpayers. The case of Greece," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 33(3), pages 354-377, September.
    7. Korgaonkar, Chinmay N, 2022. "The Determinants of Tax Morale in India," Working Papers 22/381, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy.
    8. Torgler, Benno, 2011. "Tax morale and compliance : review of evidence and case studies for Europe," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5922, The World Bank.
    9. Ciziceno, Marco & Pizzuto, Pietro, 2022. "Life satisfaction and tax morale: The role of trust in government and cultural orientation," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    10. Cyan, Musharraf R. & Koumpias, Antonios M. & Martinez-Vazquez, Jorge, 2016. "The determinants of tax morale in Pakistan," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 23-34.
    11. V.A. Molodykh, 2021. "Impact of Short-Term Exogenous Shocks on Taxpayer Behavior and Tax Evasion," Journal of Applied Economic Research, Graduate School of Economics and Management, Ural Federal University, vol. 20(2), pages 241-268.
    12. Bejaković Predrag & Bezeredi Slavko, 2019. "Determinants of Tax Morale in Croatia: an Ordered Logit Model," Business Systems Research, Sciendo, vol. 10(2), pages 37-48, September.
    13. Gabriel Leonardo & Jorge Martinez-Vazquez, 2016. "Politicians, bureaucrats, and tax morale: What shapes tax compliance attitudes?," International Center for Public Policy Working Paper Series, at AYSPS, GSU paper1608, International Center for Public Policy, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University.
    14. C Williams, Colin, 2021. "Explaining And Tackling Undeclared Work In South East Europe: Lessons From A 2019 Eurobarometer Survey," UTMS Journal of Economics, University of Tourism and Management, Skopje, Macedonia, vol. 12(1), pages 1-18.
    15. Pickhardt, Michael & Prinz, Aloys, 2014. "Behavioral dynamics of tax evasion – A survey," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 1-19.
    16. Gloria Alarcón García & José Daniel Buendía Azorín & María del Mar Sánchez Vega, 2016. "El rechazo al fraude fiscal en España: antes y después de la Gran crisis," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 218(3), pages 33-56, September.
    17. Colin Williams, 2020. "Evaluating Public Administration Approaches towards Tax Non-Compliance in Europe," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-15, July.
    18. Colin C. Williams, 2014. "Confronting the Shadow Economy," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 15370.
    19. Fabio Lamantia & Mario Pezzino & Fabio Tramontana, 2017. "Tax Evasion, Intrinsic Motivation, and the Evolutionary Effects of Tax Reforms," Economics Discussion Paper Series 1707, Economics, The University of Manchester.
    20. Philipp Doerrenberg & Andreas Peichl, 2013. "Progressive taxation and tax morale," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 155(3), pages 293-316, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Informal Sector; Tax Morale; Tax Evasion; Institutional Theory; Turkey; South-East Europe.Issue: 28(43);
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H26 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Tax Evasion and Avoidance
    • J46 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Informal Labor Market
    • K42 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law
    • O17 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Formal and Informal Sectors; Shadow Economy; Institutional Arrangements
    • P37 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist Institutions and Their Transitions - - - Legal

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:sos:sosjrn:200105. 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: Aysen Sivrikaya (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.sosyoekonomijournal.org/home.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.