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Tax Morale and Fiscal Autonomy: Evidence from Germany

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  • Benno Torgler
  • Jan Werner

    (Institute of Local Public Finance)

Abstract

Why people pay their taxes voluntarily is a key puzzle in the public finance literature. Some suggest that factors such as the level of tax morale, defined as the intrinsic motivation to pay taxes, affects compliance behaviour. While there have been numerous studies that have explored tax compliance or tax evasion, very few have explored the concept of tax morale in any detail. The basic intention of the empirical part is to analyse how fiscal autonomy affects tax morale in Germany. This also allows fill a gap in the tax compliance literature, which has rarely analysed the impact of fiscal autonomy on tax compliance or tax morale. Strong evidence has been found that a higher fiscal autonomy leads to a higher tax morale, controlling in a multivariate analysis for additional factors.

Suggested Citation

  • Benno Torgler & Jan Werner, 2005. "Tax Morale and Fiscal Autonomy: Evidence from Germany," Working Papers 03-2005, Institute of Local Public Finance.
    • Handle: RePEc:lpf:wpaper:03-2005
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    Cited by:

    1. Grazzini Lisa & Petretto Alessandro, 2022. "Heterogeneous capital tax competition in a federation with asymmetric tax compliance," German Economic Review, De Gruyter, vol. 23(4), pages 669-705, December.
    2. Juan Prieto Rodríguez & María José Sanzo Pérez & Javier Suárez Pandiello, 2006. "Economic analysis of attitudes towards fiscal fraud in Spain”," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 177(2), pages 107-128, April.
    3. Benno Torgler & Christoph A. Schaltegger, 2006. "Tax Morale: A Survey with a Special Focus on Switzerland," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics (SJES), Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics (SSES), vol. 142(III), pages 395-425, September.
    4. Belmonte, Alessandro & Dell'Anno, Roberto & Teobaldelli, Désirée, 2018. "Tax morale, aversion to ethnic diversity, and decentralization," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 204-223.
    5. Juan Molero & Francesc Pujol, 2012. "Walking Inside the Potential Tax Evader’s Mind: Tax Morale Does Matter," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 105(2), pages 151-162, January.
    6. Vincent, Rose Camille, 2023. "Vertical taxing rights and tax compliance norms," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 205(C), pages 443-467.
    7. Colin C. Williams, 2014. "Confronting the Shadow Economy," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 15370.
    8. Guglielmo Barone & Sauro Mocetti, 2011. "Tax morale and public spending inefficiency," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 18(6), pages 724-749, December.
    9. Lars P. Feld & Benno Torgler & Bin Dong, 2008. "Coming Closer? Tax Morale, Deterrence and Social Learning after German Unification," CREMA Working Paper Series 2008-09, Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA).
    10. Lago-Peñas, Ignacio & Lago-Peñas, Santiago, 2010. "The determinants of tax morale in comparative perspective: Evidence from European countries," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 441-453, December.
    11. Konstantinos Fotiadis & Prodromos Chatzoglou, 2022. "The tax morale of exhausted taxpayers. The case of Greece," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 33(3), pages 354-377, September.
    12. Alexander, Phyllis & Balavac-Orlic, Merima, 2022. "Tax morale: Framing and fairness," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 46(1).
    13. Gebhard Kirchgässner, 2011. "Tax Morale, Tax Evasion and the Shadow Economy," Chapters, in: Friedrich Schneider (ed.), Handbook on the Shadow Economy, chapter 10, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    14. Emmanuelle Deglaire & Peter Daly & Fabrice Lec, 2021. "Exposure to tax dilemmas deteriorate individuals' self-declared tax morale," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 363-397, December.
    15. Friedrich Heinemann, 2011. "Economic crisis and morale," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 32(1), pages 35-49, August.
    16. Jan Werner, 2009. "Fiscal Solidarity: Key Benefits and Pitfalls for Spain to Lower their Fiscal Conflicts," Working Papers 02-2009, Institute of Local Public Finance.
    17. Benno Torgler & Christoph A. Schaltegger, 2005. "Tax Morale and Fiscal Policy," CREMA Working Paper Series 2005-30, Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA).
    18. Jan Werner & David Nguyen-Thanh, 2007. "Municipal Infrastructure Delivery in Ethiopia: A bottomless pit or an option to reach the Millennium Development Goals?," Working Papers 01-2007, Institute of Local Public Finance.
    19. Jan Werner, 2008. "Fiskaldezentralisierung - Optionen und Handlungsfelder für die künftige deutsche Entwicklungspolitik und insbesondere die Arbeit der GTZ," Working Papers 04-2008, Institute of Local Public Finance.
    20. Jan Werner, 2016. "Options to support urban infrastructure delivery in Pakistan – a survey for the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Abstract: Pakistan has 191.7 million inhabitants with a population that is increasing b," Working Papers 01-2016, Institute of Local Public Finance.
    21. Mauro Marè & Antonello Motroni & Francesco Porcelli, 2015. "Family Ties and Underground Economy," Working papers 16, Società Italiana di Economia Pubblica.
    22. Wilfried Anicet Kouamé, 2015. "Tax Morale and Trust in Public Institutions," Cahiers de recherche 15-14, Departement d'économique de l'École de gestion à l'Université de Sherbrooke, revised Oct 2017.

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