Tax Equity and its Association with Fiscal Morale

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Although tax morale is a field that has spawned significant interest since the 1970s, the study of its determinants is a matter that is far from finished. Indeed, research on contextual factors is required in order to establish how tax equity affects tax morale and hence tax compliance, which would be useful for governments and tax administrations to plan strategies to increase tax revenue. Consequently, this paper analyzes the implications of both horizontal and vertical equity for fiscal morale through the use of pooled cross-sectional data, which is based on the integrated World Value Survey as the principal database. It is found inter alia that the aforementioned tax features, captured through the Atkinson-Plotnick and Reynolds-Smolensky indices, are the most important determinants of tax morale.