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Enforcing Tax Compliance: To Punish or Persuade?

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Author Info
Murphy, Kristina () (Faculty of Arts and Education, Deakin University, Melbourne (Australia))
Abstract

A long standing debate has existed between those who believe deterrence-based enforcement strategies work for gaining compliance from offenders and those who believe gentle persuasion and cooperation is more effective. This article is concerned with the issue of how to best deal with offenders so as to increase support for the law and lower the rate of subsequent re-offending. Using survey data from 652 taxpayers who have been through an enforcement experience with the Australian Taxation Office, the present study will show that depending on how an enforcement experience is perceived by offenders (as either stigmatic or reintegrative in nature) can influence the feelings of resentment they experience, but more importantly these feelings of resentment mediate the effect of punishment on subsequent compliance behaviour. In other words, it is these feelings of resentment in response to disapproval that go on to predict who will and will not comply with their subsequent obligations under the law.

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Publisher Info
Article provided by Queensland University of Technology (QUT), School of Economics and Finance in its journal Economic Analysis and Policy (EAP).

Volume (Year): 38 (2008)
Issue (Month): 1 (March)
Pages: 113-135
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Handle: RePEc:eap:articl:v:38:y:2008:i:1:p:113-135

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Related research
Keywords: tax compliance punishment emotions reintegrative shaming theory K Law and Economics

Find related papers by JEL classification:
K - Law and Economics

References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:

  1. Frey, Bruno S, 1997. "A Constitution for Knaves Crowds Out Civic Virtues," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 107(443), pages 1043-53, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. James Andreoni & Brian Erard & Jonathan Feinstein, 1998. "Tax Compliance," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 36(2), pages 818-860, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Alm, James & Sanchez, Isabel & de Juan, Ana, 1995. "Economic and Noneconomic Factors in Tax Compliance," Kyklos, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 48(1), pages 3-18.
  4. Lars P. Feld & Bruno S. Frey, 2002. "Trust breeds trust: How taxpayers are treated," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 3(2), pages 87-99, 07. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  5. Alm, James & McClelland, Gary H. & Schulze, William D., 1992. "Why do people pay taxes?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 21-38, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Allingham, Michael G. & Sandmo, Agnar, 1972. "Income tax evasion: a theoretical analysis," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 1(3-4), pages 323-338, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Marsha Blumenthal & Charles Christian & Joel Slemrod, 1998. "The Determinants of Income Tax Compliance: Evidence from a Controlled Experiment in Minnesota," NBER Working Papers 6575, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Ernst Fehr & Bettina Rockenbach, 2003. "Detrimental effects of sanctions on human altruism," Microeconomics 0305007, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
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This page was last updated on 2008-7-31.

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