موجودی انطباق مالیات TAX-I: طراحی یک موجودی برای بررسی انطباق مالیاتی

Surveys on tax compliance and non-compliance often rely on ad hoc formulated items which lack standardization, theoretical background, and empirical validation. We present an inventory to assess different intentions of compliance and non-compliance: voluntary versus enforced compliance, tax avoidance, and tax evasion. First, items eligible to differentiate between the intentions of compliance and non-compliance were collected from past research and newly developed, and tested empirically with the aim of producing four validated scales with a clear factorial structure. Second, findings from the first analyses were replicated and validated on the basis of motives of compliance and non-compliance, and on the basis of behaviour in a tax experiment. A standardised inventory is provided which can be used in surveys in order to collect data which are comparable across research focusing on self-reports. The inventory can be used in either of two ways: either in its entirety, or by applying the single scales independently, allowing an economical and fast assessment of different intentions underlying tax behaviour.

Following publications of the tax evasion models by Allingham and Sandmo, 1972 and Srinivasan, 1973, based on Becker’s (1968) theory of crime, there was significant movement in the research on tax evasion. Research has continued to grow to the present day. Andreoni, Erard, and Feinstein (1998) observed that it was particularly the effects of audit probabilities and fines that were studied in the context of rational choice theory. Despite Schmölders’ (1959) early emphasis on the relevance of citizens’ opinions about the government in general, and fiscal policy in particular, sociological and social psychological studies addressing tax compliance are still rare. Moreover, the approach taken in social psychology has tended not so much towards forming a clearly expressed theory, as, for instance, the economic model, but has rather focused on unsystematically addressing specific and often isolated questions (Kirchler, 2007). Hence, future research on taxes should follow a clear conceptualisation of tax behaviour and commensurate measurement. In the following we discuss different intentions of tax behaviour, derived from research on tax compliance and non-compliance. Subsequently, we present conceptual clarifications and definitions of different behavioural intentions of compliance and non-compliance. Further, an inventory for the assessment of intentions of compliance and non-compliance according to our definitions is presented. First, items on voluntary and enforced compliance, tax avoidance and evasion are collected from previous research and newly formulated, and their factor structure is analysed. Second, the inventory is cross-validated, and the validity of the scales is additionally assessed by means of reference to motivational postures (Braithwaite, 2003 and Braithwaite, 2009) and behavioural data collected in a tax experiment.