Assessment of Tax Payersandrsquo; Perception towards tax fairness in Ethiopia; the Case of Non-Incorporated Category andldquo;Aandrdquo; Business Profit Tax Payers in Gondar Town

Abstract

The objective of this study is to assess how the Gondar town taxpayers perceive the existing tax system in relation to tax fairness. A survey using self-administered questionnaire has been used to collect the primary data. The survey included 285 respondents among business profit taxpayers in Gondar, Ethiopia but just 268 copies are received. In order to achieve the objective of the study, both descriptive and inferential statistics have been applied. The collected data are described using mean and standard deviation. And also, five hypotheses are developed and tested using one sample t-test. The study reveals that, the Gondar town tax payers perceive the Ethiopian tax system as fair in terms of personal, horizontal, vertical and exchange fairness and as unfair in terms of administrative fairness. Finally the study concludes that, the Ethiopian tax system is reasonably fair in terms of personal exchange, horizontal and vertical fairness and unfair in terms of administrative fairness in the mind of the tax payers. Based on the findings obtained and conclusions drawn the researcher recommends that, the tax authority in particular and government in general shall try to empower the tax payers with knowledge and changing their perception through sustainable awareness creation programs.