posted on 2024-09-05, 20:55authored byWilson Prichard
The past decade has witnessed a surge in international interest in the importance of tax
morale. This is often defined, broadly, as taxpayer’s ‘non-pecuniary motivations for tax
compliance’ (Luttmer and Singhal 2014: 150) – as a key component of strategies for
strengthening tax compliance in lower-income countries. Whereas classic models of tax
compliance focused on the importance of the threat of enforcement and the cost of
compliance in shaping compliance, compliance decisions are also significantly shaped by
non-pecuniary motivations. They can, for example, be an intrinsic commitment to paying
taxes, expectations of reciprocity from government, or broader social norms. This has been
reflected in growing interest in strategies for strengthening tax morale in order to encourage
quasi-voluntary tax compliance (Prichard et al. 2019). A significant part of this literature has
relied on surveys to measure taxpayer attitudes towards tax compliance (tax morale), and, in
turn, to identify factors associated with higher or lower levels of reported tax morale.
Funding
Default funder
History
Publisher
Institute of Development Studies
Citation
Prichard, W. (2022) 'Unpacking ‘Tax Morale’: Distinguishing Between Conditional and Unconditional Views of Tax Compliance', ICTD Working Paper 147, Brighton: Institute of Development Studies, DOI:10.19088/ICTD.2022.013