Details
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 396-428 |
| Number of pages | 33 |
| Journal | FINANZARCHIV |
| Volume | 76 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| Publication status | Published - 14 Dec 2020 |
Abstract
Governments have taken remarkable measures during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in their efforts to safeguard citizens’ health and the economy. As a consequence, public debts have reached unprecedented levels, which will require at some point higher taxes. En-suring that citizens pay these taxes requires consideration of the many factors that will likely affect their tax compliance decisions. In this paper, we reflect from a behavioral-economic perspective the impact of tax policy measures on the perception, evaluation, and behavior of citizens and derive considerations to devise appropriate tax policies to ensure compliance in the future. We start with speculations about citizens’ views of gov-ernmental restrictions and economic stimulus measures in response to the crisis, we apply these speculations to the acceptance and perceived effectiveness of policy measures on citizens’ tax compliance behaviors, and we finish with their likely effect on determinants of tax compliance. Building on the derived insights, we deduce a set of considerations to improve tax compliance – and to generate the necessary tax revenues to deal with the aftereffects of SARS-CoV-2 when the pandemic is under control: communication, trans-parency and justification of measures, access to support, service provision, audits and penalties in case of free-riding, targeted audits, building social norms of cooperation, consideration of framing effects, development of plans and strategies for the future, and anticipation of hindsight biases.
Keywords
- Behavioral economics, Behavioral taxation, Covid-19 crisis, Tax compliance
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Economics, Econometrics and Finance(all)
- Finance
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In: FINANZARCHIV, Vol. 76, No. 4, 14.12.2020, p. 396-428.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Tax Policy Measures to Combat the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic and Considerations to Improve Tax Compliance
T2 - A Behavioral Perspective
AU - Alm, James
AU - Blaufus, Kay
AU - Fochmann, Martin
AU - Kirchler, Erich
AU - Mohr, Peter N.C.
AU - Olson, Nina E.
AU - Torgler, Benno
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2020 Mohr Siebeck. Copyright: Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2020/12/14
Y1 - 2020/12/14
N2 - Governments have taken remarkable measures during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in their efforts to safeguard citizens’ health and the economy. As a consequence, public debts have reached unprecedented levels, which will require at some point higher taxes. En-suring that citizens pay these taxes requires consideration of the many factors that will likely affect their tax compliance decisions. In this paper, we reflect from a behavioral-economic perspective the impact of tax policy measures on the perception, evaluation, and behavior of citizens and derive considerations to devise appropriate tax policies to ensure compliance in the future. We start with speculations about citizens’ views of gov-ernmental restrictions and economic stimulus measures in response to the crisis, we apply these speculations to the acceptance and perceived effectiveness of policy measures on citizens’ tax compliance behaviors, and we finish with their likely effect on determinants of tax compliance. Building on the derived insights, we deduce a set of considerations to improve tax compliance – and to generate the necessary tax revenues to deal with the aftereffects of SARS-CoV-2 when the pandemic is under control: communication, trans-parency and justification of measures, access to support, service provision, audits and penalties in case of free-riding, targeted audits, building social norms of cooperation, consideration of framing effects, development of plans and strategies for the future, and anticipation of hindsight biases.
AB - Governments have taken remarkable measures during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in their efforts to safeguard citizens’ health and the economy. As a consequence, public debts have reached unprecedented levels, which will require at some point higher taxes. En-suring that citizens pay these taxes requires consideration of the many factors that will likely affect their tax compliance decisions. In this paper, we reflect from a behavioral-economic perspective the impact of tax policy measures on the perception, evaluation, and behavior of citizens and derive considerations to devise appropriate tax policies to ensure compliance in the future. We start with speculations about citizens’ views of gov-ernmental restrictions and economic stimulus measures in response to the crisis, we apply these speculations to the acceptance and perceived effectiveness of policy measures on citizens’ tax compliance behaviors, and we finish with their likely effect on determinants of tax compliance. Building on the derived insights, we deduce a set of considerations to improve tax compliance – and to generate the necessary tax revenues to deal with the aftereffects of SARS-CoV-2 when the pandemic is under control: communication, trans-parency and justification of measures, access to support, service provision, audits and penalties in case of free-riding, targeted audits, building social norms of cooperation, consideration of framing effects, development of plans and strategies for the future, and anticipation of hindsight biases.
KW - Behavioral economics
KW - Behavioral taxation
KW - Covid-19 crisis
KW - Tax compliance
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85098000926&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1628/fa-2020-0014
DO - 10.1628/fa-2020-0014
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85098000926
VL - 76
SP - 396
EP - 428
JO - FINANZARCHIV
JF - FINANZARCHIV
SN - 0015-2218
IS - 4
ER -