Skip to main content
Key Specialties
Cardiology Diabetology Endocrinology Gastroenterology Geriatrics and Gerontology Gynecology and Obstetrics Hematology Infectious Disease Internal Medicine Nephrology Neurology Oncology Pediatrics Respiratory Medicine Rheumatology Surgery
Congress Coverage
2024 ACC Congress 2023 ESMO Congress 2023 EASD Congress 2023 ERS Congress 2023 ESC Congress 2023 EHA Congress 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting
Clinical Collections
Advances in Alzheimer’s

At a glance: The ONWARDS insulin icodec trials

A round-up of the ONWARDS phase 3 clinical trials evaluating the novel weekly insulin icodec in people with diabetes.
ADVANCED SEARCH
Log in
Top
Netherlands journal of psychology
Published in: Netherlands journal of psychology 4/2009

01-12-2009 | Article

The role of fairness in tax compliance

Authors: Peter Verboon, Sjoerd Goslinga

Published in: Netherlands journal of psychology | Issue 4/2009

Login to get access

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to study the relation between fairness considerations and tax compliance attitudes and intentions. Data from a large panel survey among small business owners in the Netherlands were analysed. Besides a number of background and control variables the questionnaire contained measures of personal norms, procedural and distributive justice, tax compliance attitudes and intentions to comply with tax rules. Results support the hypothesis that personal norms and justice concerns are related to tax compliance attitudes. Moreover, analyses confirm the hypothesis that distributive fairness positively affects both tax compliance attitudes and intentions to comply among entrepreneurs with relatively low personal norms, while distributive justice has no significant effect among entrepreneurs with high personal norms. Implications of these results for research on tax compliance and for tax policy are discussed. (Netherlands Journal of Psychology, 65, 136-145).
Literature
Aiken, L. S., & West, S. G. (1991). Multiple regression: Testing and interpreting interactions. New York: Sage.
Ahmed, E., & Braithwaite, V. (2005). Understanding small business taxpayers: Issues of deterrence, tax morale, fairness and work practice. International Small Business Journal 23, 539-568.
Adams, J. S. (1965). Inequity in social exchange. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental Social Psychology, Vol. 2, (pp. 267-299). New York: Academic Press.
Allingham, M. G., & Sandmo, A. (1972). Income tax evasion: a theoretical analysis. Journal of Public Economics, 1, 323-338.
Andreoni, J., Erard, B., & Feinstein, J. (1998). Tax compliance. Journal of Economic Literature, 36, 818-860.
Braithwaite, V. (ed.) (2003). Taxing Democracy: Understanding Tax Avoidance and Evasion. Ashgate, Aldershot.
Brehm, J. W. (1966). A theory of psychological reactance. New York: Academic Press.
Carnes, G., & Cuccia, A. (1996). An analysis of the effect of tax complexity and its perceived justification on equity judgments. The Journal of the American Taxation Association, 18, 40-56
De Cremer, D., & van Knippenberg, D. (2002). How do leaders promote cooperation? The effects of charisma and procedural fairness. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87, 858-866.
De Cremer, D., & Tyler, T. R. (2005). Managing Group Behavior: The Interplay between Procedural Justice, Sense of Self, and Cooperation. In M. Zanna (Ed.), Advances in Experimental Social Psychology (Vol. 37, pp. 151-218). New York: Academic Press.
De Cremer, D., Tyler, T. R., & den Ouden, N, (2005). Managing cooperation via procedural fairness: The mediating role of self-other merging. Journal of Economic Psychology, 26, 393-406.
Elffers, H. (1991). Income tax evasion: Theory and measurement. Deventer, NL: Kluwer.
Frey, B. S. (2003). The role of deterrence and tax morale in taxation in the European Union. Jelle Zijlstra lecture 2002. Wassenaar, NL: NIAS.
Hessing, D. J., Elffers, H., & Weigel, R. H. (1988). Exploring the limits of self-reports and reasoned action: an investigation of the psychology of tax evasion behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 405-413.
Kinsey, K. A., & Grasmick, G. H. (1993). Did the tax reform act of 1986 improve compliance? Three studies of pre- and post-TRA compliance attitudes. Law and Policy, 15, 239-325.
Kinsey, K. A., Grasmick, G. H., & Smith, K. W. (1991). Framing justice: Taxpayer evaluations of personal tax burdens. Law and Society Review, 25, 845-873.
Kirchler, E. (1998). Differential representations of taxes: analysis of free associations and judgments of five employment groups. Journal of Socio-Economics, 27, 117-131.
Kirchler, E. (1999). Reactance to taxation: Employers' attitudes towards taxes. Journal of Socio-Economics, 28, 131-138.
Kirchler, E. (2007). The economic psychology of tax behaviour. Cambridge University Press.
Kirchler, E., & Berger, M. M. (1998). Macht die Gelegenheit den Dieb? Jahrbuch der Absatz- und Verbrauchs-forschung, 44, 439-462.
Kirchler, E., Niemirowski, A., & Wearing, A. (2006). Shared subjective views, intent to cooperate and tax compliance: similarities between Australian taxpayers and tax officers. Journal of Economic Psychology, 27, 502-517.
Leventhal, G. S. (1980). What should be done with equity theory? New approaches to the study of fairness in social relationships. In K. Gergen, M. Greenberg, & R. Willis (Eds.). Social Exchange: Advances in theory and research (pp. 27-55). New York: Plenum.
Lind, E. A., & Tyler, T. R. (1988). The social psychology of procedural justice. New York: Plenum.
Moser, D. V., Evans III, J. H., & Kim, C. K. (1995). The effects of horizontal and exchange inequity on tax reporting decisions. The Accounting Review, 70, 619-634.
Murphy, K. (2004). The role of trust in nurturing compliance: A study of accused tax avoiders. Law and Human Behaviour, 28, 187-209.
Pommerehne, W. W., & Frey, B. S. (1992). The effects of tax administration on tax morale. University of Saarbrucken, Working Paper.
Porcano, T. M. (1988). Correlates of tax evasion. Journal of Economic Psychology, 9, 47-67.
Spicer, M. W., & Lundstedt, S. B. (1976). Understanding tax evasion. Public Finance, 21, 295-305.
Thibaut, J., & Walker, L. (1975). Procedural justice: a psychological analysis. Hillsdale, N.J.: Erlbaum.
Torgler, B. (2002). Speaking of theorists and searching for facts: tax morale and tax compliance in experiments. Journal of Economic Surveys, 16, 657-683.
Torgler, B. (2005). Tax morale and direct democracy. European Journal of Political Economy, 21, 525-531.
Torgler, B., & Murphy, K. (2004). Tax morale in Australia: What shapes it and has it changed over time? Journal of Australian Taxation, 7, 298-335.
Tyler, T. R. (1990). Why people obey the law: Procedural justice, legitimacy, and compliance. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Tyler, T. R. (1997). The psychology of legitimacy: A relational perspective on voluntary deference to authorities. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 1, 323-345.
Tyler, T. R. (2006). Restorative Justice and Procedural Justice: Dealing with Rule Breaking. Journal of Social Issues, 62, 307-326.
Tyler, T. R., & Lind, E. A. (1992). A relational model of authority in groups. Advances In Experimental Social Psychology, 25, 115-191.
Varma, K. N., & Doob, A. N. (1998). Deterring economic crimes: The case of tax evasion. Canadian Journal of Criminology, 40, 165-185.
Verboon, P., & van Dijke, M. (2007). A self-interested analysis of justice and tax compliance: How distributive justice moderates the effect of outcome favorability. Journal of Economic Psychology, 28, 704-727.
van den Bos, K., Wilke, H. A. M., & Lind, E. A. (1998). When do we need procedural fairness? The role of trust in authority. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75, 1449-1458.
Wallschutzky, I. G. (1984). Possible Causes of Tax Evasion. Journal of Economic Psychology, 5, 371-384.
Walster, E., Walster, G. W., & Berscheid, E. (1978). Equity: Theory and research. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Wärneryd, K. E., & Walerud, B. (1982). Taxes and economic behavior: some interview data on tax evasion in Sweden. Journal of Economic Psychology, 2, 187-211.
Webley, P., Cole, M., & Eidjar, O. (2001). The prediction of self-reported and hypothetical tax evasion: evidence from England, France and Norway. Journal of Economic Psychology, 22, 141-155.
Wenzel, M. (2002). The Impact of Outcome Orientation and Justice Concerns on Tax Compliance: The Role of Taxpayers' Identity. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87, 629-645.
Wenzel, M. (2003). Tax compliance and the psychology of justice: Mapping the field. In V. Braithwaite (ed.). Taxing Democracy: Understanding tax avoidance and tax evasion (pp. 41-69). Hants, UK: Ashgate.
Wenzel, M. (2004). The social side of sanctions: personal and social norms as moderators of deterrence. Law and Human Behaviour, 28, 547-567.
Wenzel, M. (2005). Motivation or rationalization? Causal relations between ethics, norms and tax compliance. Journal of Economic Psychology, 26, 491-508.
Metadata
Title
The role of fairness in tax compliance
Authors
Peter Verboon
Sjoerd Goslinga
Publication date
01-12-2009
Publisher
Bohn Stafleu van Loghum
Published in
Netherlands journal of psychology / Issue 4/2009
Electronic ISSN: 0028-2235
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03080136

Other articles of this Issue 4/2009

Netherlands journal of psychology 4/2009 Go to the issue

Article

If it walks like fairness, and quacks like fairness, it sometimes is fairness: instrumental and true fairness in bargaining

Article

Organisational justice in the context of organisational change

Article

On the psychology of justice as a social regulation tool

Article

Justice and cooperation

Article

How power and trust explain procedural fairness effects on self-esteem