Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Attitudes Toward Paying Taxes in the USA: An Empirical Analysis

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
The Ethics of Tax Evasion

Abstract

People mostly pay their taxes although there is a low probability of getting caught and being penalized. Thus, new attempts in the tax compliance literature try to go beyond standard economic theory. This chapter examines citizens’ attitudes toward paying taxes – what is sometimes termed their “tax morale,” or the intrinsic motivation to pay taxes. Tax morale may be a key determinant to explain why people are honest. However, there are not many papers that explore the concept of tax morale theoretically and empirically. This study, based on the World Values Survey, therefore attempts to fill this gap in the literature, focusing on tax morale in the USA. Societal variables, such as trust or pride, have been identified as key determinants that shape tax morale in the USA. The results also show an increase of tax morale between 1982 and 1995.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 299.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 379.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 379.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    The justification of contributing may change if the tax revenues are collected under a dictatorship and the revenue is, e.g., used to finance war (McGee 1994).

  2. 2.

    The high level of tax morale in the USA is also supported by Alm and Torgler (2006) who used the 1990 data in a multivariate analysis.

  3. 3.

    For an overview of variables see Table A1in the Appendix.

  4. 4.

    This was done by taking the original weighting variable and multiplying it by a constant for each survey. If the data were not weighted, the resulting pooled estimates could be biased. The weighting variable is provided by the WVS.

References

  • Aitken, Sherie S., and Laura Bonneville (1980) A General Taxpayer Opinion Survey. Washington, DC: Internal Revenue Service.

    Google Scholar 

  • Alm, James (1999) ‘Tax Compliance and Administration’, in Hildreth, W. Bartley, and James A. Richardson, eds., Handbook on Taxation. New York: Marcel Dekker: 741–768.

    Google Scholar 

  • Alm, James and Benno Torgler (2006) ‘Culture Differences and Tax Morale in the United States and Europe’, Journal of Economic Psychology, 27, 224–246.

    Google Scholar 

  • Alm, James, Gary H. McClelland, and William D. Schulze (1992) ‘Why Do People Pay Taxes?’, Journal of Public Economics, 48, 21–48.

    Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, Gary M. and Robert D. Tollison (1992) ‘Morality and Monopoly: The Constitutional Political Economy of Religious Rules’, CATO Journal 13, 373–391.

    Google Scholar 

  • Andreoni, James, Brian Erard, and Jonathan S. Feinstein (1998) ‘Tax Compliance’, Journal of Economic Literature, 36, 818–860.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baldry, Jonathan C. (1987) ‘Income Tax Evasion and the Tax Schedule: Some Experimental Results’, Public Finance, 42, 357–383.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bordignon, Massimo (1993) ‘A Fairness Approach to Income Tax Evasion’, Journal of Public Economic, 52, 345–362.

    Google Scholar 

  • Buchanan, James M. (1999) ‘Taxpayer Apathy, Institutional Inertia, and Economic Growth’, Journal of Public Finance and Public Choice 17, 3–10.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dollar, David, Raymond Fisman, and Roberta Gatti (2001) ‘Are Women Really the “Fairer” Sex? Corruption and Women in Government’, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 46, 423–429.

    Google Scholar 

  • Erard, Brian, and Jonathan S. Feinstein (1994) ‘The Role of Moral Sentiments and Audit Perceptions in Tax Compliance’, Public Finance, 49, 70–89.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frey, Bruno S., and Lars P. Feld (2002) ‘Deterrence and Morale in Taxation: An Empirical Analysis’, CESifo Working Paper No. 760, August 2002.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frey, Bruno S., and Alois Stutzer (2002) Happiness and Economics. How the Economy and Institutions Affect Well-Being. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gordon, James P. F. (1989) ‘Individual Morality and Reputation Costs as Deterrents to Tax Evasion’, European Economic Review, 33, 797–805.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gottfredson, Michael R., and Travis Hirschi (1990) A General Theory of Crime. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Graetz, Michael J., and Louis L. Wilde (1985) The Economics of Tax Compliance: Facts and Fantasy, National Tax Journal 38, 355–363.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hirschi, Travis and Michael R. Gottfredson (2000) Age and the Explanation of Crime, in Crutchfield, Robert D., George S. Bridges, Joseph G. Weis, and Charis Kubrin, eds., Crime Readings. Thousand Oaks: Pine Forge Press: 138–142.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hull, Brooks B. (2000) ‘Religion Still Matters’, Journal of Economics, 26, 35–48.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hull, Brooks B., and Frederick Bold (1989) ‘Towards and Economic Theory of the Church’, International Journal of Social Economics, 16, 5–15.

    Google Scholar 

  • Inglehart, Ronald et al. (2000) Codebook for World Values Survey. Ann Arbor: Institute for Social Research.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jackson, Betty R., and Valerie C. Milliron (1986) ‘Tax Compliance Research: Findings, Problems, and Prospects’, Journal of Accounting Literature, 5, 125–166.

    Google Scholar 

  • Knack, Stephen, and Philip Keefer (1997) ‘Does Social Capital Have an Economic Payoff: A Cross-Country Investigation’, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 112 1251–1288.

    Google Scholar 

  • Junger, Marianne (1994) ‘Accidents’, in Hirschi, Travis and Michael R. Gottfredson, eds., The Generality of Deviance. New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers: 81–112.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lewis, Alan (1982) The Psychology of Taxation. Oxford: Martin Robertson.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lipford, Jody, Robert E. McCormick, and Robert D. Tollison (1993) Preaching Matters, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 21, 235–250.

    Google Scholar 

  • McGee, Robert W. (1994). Is Tax Evasion Unethical? University of Kansas Law Review, 42(2), 411–35.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mocan, Naci (2004). What Determines Corruption? International Evidence from Micro Data, NBER Working Paper Series, Nr. 10460, Cambridge, MA, April.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pommerehne, Werner W., and Hannelore Weck-Hannemann (1996) Tax Rates, Tax Administration and Income Tax Evasion in Switzerland, Public Choice, 88, 161–170. Do we Know?’, CREMA Working Paper No. 2004 –03, Basel.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schnellenbach, Jan (2002) Tax Morale, Leviathan and the Political Process: A Theoretical Approach, Paper presented at the Annual European Public Choice Society Conference in Belgirate, April 4–7.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scholz, John T., and Mark Lubell (1998) ‘Adaptive Political Attitudes: Duty, Trust and Fear as Monitors of Tax Policy’, American Journal of Political Science, 42, 398–417.

    Google Scholar 

  • Spicer, Michael W., and Lee A. Becker, 1980, ‘Fiscal Inequity and Tax Evasion: An Experimental Approach’, National Tax Journal, 33, 171–175.

    Google Scholar 

  • Spicer, Michael W., and Rodney E. Hero, (1985) ‘Tax Evasion and Heuristics. A Research Note’, Journal of Public Economics, 26, 263–267.

    Google Scholar 

  • Swamy, Anand, Stephen Knack, Young Lee and Omar Azfar (2001) ‘Gender and Corruption’, Journal of Development Economics, 64, 25–55.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tittle, Charles (1980) Sanctions and Social Deviance: The Question of Deterrence. New York: Praeger.

    Google Scholar 

  • Torgler, Benno (2002) ‘Speaking to Theorists and Searching for Facts: Tax Morale and Tax Compliance in Experiments’, Journal of Economic Surveys, 16, 657–684.

    Google Scholar 

  • Torgler, Benno (2006) ‘The Importance of Faith: Tax Morale and Religiosity’, forthcoming in: Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization.

    Google Scholar 

  • Torgler, B. (2007). Tax Compliance and Tax Morale: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis, ­forthcoming: Edward Elgar.

    Google Scholar 

  • Torgler, Benno and Neven T. Valev (2006) ‘Corruption and Age’, forthcoming in: Journal of Bioeconomics.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tyler, Tom R. (2000) ‘Why Do People Cooperate in Groups?’, in Van Vught, Mark, Mark Snyder, Tom R. Tyler and Anders Biel, eds., Cooperation in Modern Society. Promoting the Welfare of Communities, States and Organizations. London, Routledge: 65–82.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Economics and Finance, Queensland University of Technology, 2434, Brisbane, QLD, 4001, Australia

    Benno Torgler

Authors
  1. Benno Torgler
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Benno Torgler .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Florida International University, NE., 151st Street 3000, North Miami, 33181, Florida, USA

    Robert W. McGee

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2012 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Torgler, B. (2012). Attitudes Toward Paying Taxes in the USA: An Empirical Analysis. In: McGee, R. (eds) The Ethics of Tax Evasion. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-1287-8_16

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation