Essays on behavioral tax compliance and trust in government

Abstract

Research on tax compliance has shown that nonpecuniary incentives are very important for explaining tax compliance, and may outweigh the importance of enforcing tax payments with deterring instruments. This thesis seeks to deepen the understanding of why and how taxpayers respond to nonpecuniary incentives to comply with the tax code. In particular, this thesis examines the importance of framing, reputational concerns, and the interplay of trust in authorities and deterrence exerted by the state. The second central research objective in this thesis is to explore the societal determinants and characteristics of trust in government. This dissertations shows that the objective trustworthiness of institutions does not necessarily coincide with the subjective trust people put in them. However, even with lacking accountability and reliability of institutions, this thesis suggests positive direct links between trust in government and countries' economic development.