Home >> FinanzArchiv: Public Finance Analysis, Volume 61, Number 2

Understanding Surveys of Taxpayer Honesty

Authors: Wilson, Janine L.F.; Sheffrin, Steven

Source: FinanzArchiv: Public Finance Analysis, Volume 61, Number 2, June 2005 , pp. 256-274(19)

Publisher: Mohr Siebeck

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Abstract:

Standard models of taxpayer compliance have fallen short of predicting the degree of honesty found in the data. We contribute to the more recent literature assessing cultural factors in the decision to underreport. We find that there are two forms of possible misspecification in the current models of taxpayer compliance. First, we use econometric methods for detecting misclassification of the dependent variable in a probit model, applying them to a recent IRS-sponsored survey. We find evidence of misspecification, which may suggest that taxpayers are not fully truthful in their survey responses, a result that helps to reconcile findings from survey data with studies using other methods. Second, we divide the sample into those individuals who have an intense sense of ''tax morality'' and those who do not, in order to compare groups with differing tax cultures. We find that the two groups are indeed influenced differently by the factors that have been commonly found in the literature, such as opinions regarding the fairness of the tax system.

Keywords: TAX COMPLIANCE; MISSPECIFICATION OF DEPENDENT VARIABLE

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1628/0015221054553557

Publication date: 2005-06-01

More about this publication?
  • FinanzArchiv founded in 1884 is one of the world's oldest professional journals in public finance.

    FinanzArchiv publishes original work from all fields of public economics which are of interest to an international readership, e.g. taxation, public debt, public goods, public choice, federalism, market failure, social policy, and the welfare state. Special emphasis is on high-quality theoretical and empirical papers on current policy issues.

    FinanzArchiv is a well-established, internationally oriented journal in the field of public economics, widely read in Europe and all over the world.

    FinanzArchiv is listed in the Social Science Citation Index (SSCI, JCR impact factor 2007 0,296), in Current Contents/Social and Behavioral Sciences, in IDEAS and RePEc (IDEAS/RePEc simple impact factor 2008 1.177), in the Journal of Economic Literature (CD and online), and in the International Bibliography of the Social Sciences.

    FinanzArchiv is a fully peer-reviewed journal committed to a prompt turnaround of submissions. No more than four months should pass between online submission of a manuscript and the editor's decision on acceptance, revision, or rejection.
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