Trickle Down Tax Morale : A Cross-Country Survey Experiment
Studies have encouraged pro-social behavior by experimentally manipulating people's views of what others like them tend to do (descriptive norms). These studies positively change behaviors, including charitable giving, littering, organ donatio...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2021
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/868051610551141811/Trickle-Down-Tax-Morale-A-Cross-Country-Survey-Experiment http://hdl.handle.net/10986/35013 |
| Summary: | Studies have encouraged pro-social
behavior by experimentally manipulating people's views
of what others like them tend to do (descriptive norms).
These studies positively change behaviors, including
charitable giving, littering, organ donation, and tax
compliance. This paper argues that these results may be
explained by a tendency to reciprocate positive actions and
avoid being taken advantage of. The descriptive norm account
predicts that positively describing the behavior of ordinary
people will be most effective at increasing citizens’
willingness to pay taxes, and messages describing the
behavior of other groups should be less effective. However,
reciprocity theory suggests that highlighting pro-social
behavior by groups believed not to contribute their fair
share, such as rich people, should be effective because it
will reduce the subject's perception that they are
being taken advantage of when they pay taxes. These theories
are tested in an online experiment in Kenya, Australia, the
United States, the Philippines, and South Africa. The
findings show that the descriptive norms treatment is
ineffective, while the rich people treatment significantly
increases tax morale, supporting reciprocity theory. The
findings suggest that tax agencies may increase tax
compliance by visibly tackling tax avoidance among groups
believed to avoid taxes, such as rich citizens. |
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