Tax compliance and psychic costs: Behavioral experimental evidence using a physiological marker

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Dulleck, Uwe; Fooken, Jonas; Newton, Cameron; Ristl, Andrea; Schaffner, Markus; Torgler, Benno
• 署名单位: Queensland University of Technology (QUT); Australian National University; Queensland University of Technology (QUT)
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0047-2727
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2015.12.007
• 发表日期: 2016
• 页码: 9-18
• 关键词: tax compliance; Psychic costs; stress; Tax morale; COOPERATION; Heart rate variability; biomarkers; experiment; Heterogeneous individuals

摘要

Although paying taxes is a key element of a well-functioning society, there is still limited understanding as to why people actually pay their taxes. Models emphasizing that taxpayers make strategic, financially motivated compliance decisions seemingly assume an overly restrictive view of human nature. Law abidance may be more accurately explained by social norms, a concept that has gained growing importance as research attempts to understand the tax compliance puzzle. This study analyzes the influence of psychic stress generated by the possibility of breaking social norms in the tax compliance context. We measure psychic stress using heart rate variability (HRV), which captures the psychobiological or neural equivalents of psychic stress that may arise from the contemplation of real or imagined actions, producing immediate physiologic discomfort. The results of our laboratory experiments provide empirical evidence of a positive correlation between psychic stress and tax compliance, thus underscoring the importance of moral sentiments for tax compliance. We also identify three distinct types of individuals who differ in their levels of psychic stress, tax morale, and tax compliance. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.