IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bas/econst/y2023i3p64-87.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Is Tax Morale Homogeneous in Bulgaria?

Author

Listed:
  • Stefan Petranov
  • Ìilena Angelova
  • Lillyana Georgieva
  • Radostina Ivcheva
  • Nino Avreyski

Abstract

The article argues that tax morale is an essential component of social capital with a significant impact on tax compliance and tax collection. Against this backdrop, the results of the study are based on a questionnaire survey in Bulgaria, conducted among 1280 employed individuals. They work in enterprises that are representative of the country’s economy in terms of economic activity, size, and geographical location. We design an index to assess the tax morale of the respondents and use it to address a series of questions. What is the tax morale of the Bulgarian population currently? What factors possibly influence it? Are there any differences between various population groups, based on socio-demographic or socio-economic characteristics? The results show that tax morale in Bulgaria is heterogeneous. Such findings lead to certain conclusions about economic policy reforms. By influencing the tax morale of the population, policymakers can improve tax collection. Our estimations show that a relatively large share of the population in Bulgaria has average or low tax morale. We point out that one of the most effective ways to increase tax revenues is through targeted measures to improve the tax morale of specific groups of people with a high inclination to participate in the shadow economy and evade taxes. Using statistical tests and ordinal regression models, this article provides empirical evidence that the profile of these individuals includes low income, living in regional cities, younger age and poor education.

Suggested Citation

  • Stefan Petranov & Ìilena Angelova & Lillyana Georgieva & Radostina Ivcheva & Nino Avreyski, 2023. "Is Tax Morale Homogeneous in Bulgaria?," Economic Studies journal, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences - Economic Research Institute, issue 3, pages 64-87.
  • Handle: RePEc:bas:econst:y:2023:i:3:p:64-87
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.iki.bas.bg/Journals/EconomicStudies/2023/2023-3/04_Stefan-Petranov.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Colin C. Williams & Ioana A. Horodnic, 2017. "Evaluating the Illegal Employer Practice of Under-Reporting Employees’ Salaries," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 55(1), pages 83-111, March.
    2. Benno Torgler & Friedrich Schneider, 2007. "What Shapes Attitudes Toward Paying Taxes? Evidence from Multicultural European Countries," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 88(2), pages 443-470, June.
    3. Dulleck, Uwe & Torgler, Benno & Wilson, Clevo, 2008. "Change of Guard for Economic Analysis and Policy," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 1-5, March.
    4. Halla Martin, 2012. "Tax Morale and Compliance Behavior: First Evidence on a Causal Link," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 12(1), pages 1-27, April.
    5. Christian Daude & Hamlet Gutiérrez & Ángel Melguizo, 2012. "What Drives Tax Morale?," OECD Development Centre Working Papers 315, OECD Publishing.
    6. Kemme, David M. & Parikh, Bhavik & Steigner, Tanja, 2020. "Tax Morale and International Tax Evasion," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 55(3).
    7. Stefan Petranov & Dimitar Zlatinov & Milen Velushev & Lillyana Georgieva & Radostina Ivcheva, 2022. "Shadow Economy and Production Factors: Results from an Empirical Analysis with a Panel Data Set," Economic Studies journal, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences - Economic Research Institute, issue 2, pages 44-64.
    8. Nadja Dwenger & Henrik Kleven & Imran Rasul & Johannes Rincke, 2016. "Extrinsic and Intrinsic Motivations for Tax Compliance: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Germany," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 8(3), pages 203-232, August.
    9. 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.
    10. Ryšavá Tereza & Zídková Hana, 2021. "What are the factors of tax evasion? New findings in the EVS Study," Review of Economic Perspectives, Sciendo, vol. 21(4), pages 385-409, December.
    11. Betty Yuk Sim Kwok & Rita Wing Yue Yip, 2018. "Is Tax Education Good or Evil for Boosting Tax Compliance? Evidence from Hong Kong," Asian Economic Journal, East Asian Economic Association, vol. 32(4), pages 359-386, December.
    12. Stefan Petranov & Dimitar Zlatinov & Ilia Atanasov, 2022. "The Shadow Economy in Bulgaria During the Period 2006-2019," Economic Studies journal, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences - Economic Research Institute, issue 5, pages 3-18.
    13. 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.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Cyan, Musharraf R. & Koumpias, Antonios M. & Martinez-Vazquez, Jorge, 2016. "The determinants of tax morale in Pakistan," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 23-34.
    2. Korgaonkar, Chinmay N, 2022. "The Determinants of Tax Morale in India," Working Papers 22/381, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy.
    3. Adriana AnaMaria Davidescu & Eduard Mihai Manta & Adina Teodora Stoica-Ungureanu & Magdalena Anton (Musat), 2022. "Could Religiosity and Religion Influence the Tax Morale of Individuals? An Empirical Analysis Based on Variable Selection Methods," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 10(23), pages 1-32, November.
    4. Boda, Zsolt & Bartha, Attila, 2016. "Adómorál, bizalom és kényszerek - adózási motivációk Magyarországon korrupciós botrányok idején [Tax morale, trust and constraints: Tax-compliance motivations in Hungary during corruption scandals]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(10), pages 1021-1045.
    5. James Alm & Lilith Burgstaller & Arrita Domi & Amanda März & Matthias Kasper, 2023. "Nudges, Boosts, and Sludge: Using New Behavioral Approaches to Improve Tax Compliance," Economies, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-22, September.
    6. Gabriele Ruiu & Gaetano Lisi, 2011. "Tax Morale, Slippery-Slope Framework and Tax Compliance: A Cross-section Analysis," Working Papers 2011-05, Universita' di Cassino, Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche.
    7. Colin C. Williams, 2014. "Confronting the Shadow Economy," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 15370.
    8. Colin C. Williams & Slavko Bezeredi, 2021. "Explaining informal entrepreneurship in Croatia: a social actor approach," International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 42(3), pages 348-368.
    9. Guerra, Alice & Harrington, Brooke, 2018. "Attitude–behavior consistency in tax compliance: A cross-national comparison," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 184-205.
    10. Williams Colin C, 2019. "Explaining and tackling the informal economy: an evaluation of competing perspectives," Open Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 2(1), pages 63-75, January.
    11. Kühne, Daniela, 2020. "Reaction to ambiguity as a signal for tax reporting aggressiveness: Evidence from German income tax return data," Passauer Diskussionspapiere, Betriebswirtschaftliche Reihe B-44-20, University of Passau, Faculty of Business and Economics.
    12. Rutkauskas Virgilijus, 2016. "Factors Behind Weak Tax Morale: The Case of European Union Countries," Ekonomika (Economics), Sciendo, vol. 95(3), pages 7-27, December.
    13. Ciziceno, Marco & Pizzuto, Pietro, 2022. "Life satisfaction and tax morale: The role of trust in government and cultural orientation," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    14. Fábio Pereira Silva & Reinaldo Guerreiro & Eduardo Flores, 2019. "Voluntary versus enforced tax compliance: the slippery slope framework in the Brazilian context," International Review of Economics, Springer;Happiness Economics and Interpersonal Relations (HEIRS), vol. 66(2), pages 147-180, June.
    15. Alvaro Forteza & Cecilia Noboa, 2019. "Perceptions of institutional quality and justification of tax evasion," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 30(4), pages 367-382, December.
    16. Doerrenberg, Philipp & Duncan, Denvil & Fuest, Clemens & Peichl, Andreas, 2012. "Nice Guys Finish Last: Are People with Higher Tax Morale Taxed More Heavily?," IZA Discussion Papers 6275, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    17. Philipp Doerrenberg & Jan Schmitz, 2017. "Tax compliance and information provision. A field experiment with small firms," Journal of Behavioral Economics for Policy, Society for the Advancement of Behavioral Economics (SABE), vol. 1(1), pages 47-54, February.
    18. Garcia, Filomena & Opromolla, Luca David & Vezzulli, Andrea & Marques, Rafael, 2020. "The effects of official and unofficial information on tax compliance," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    19. Philipp Doerrenberg & Andreas Peichl, 2022. "Tax Morale and the Role of Social Norms and Reciprocity - Evidence from a Randomized Survey Experiment," FinanzArchiv: Public Finance Analysis, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 78(1-2), pages 44-86.
    20. Giulia Mascagni, 2018. "From The Lab To The Field: A Review Of Tax Experiments," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(2), pages 273-301, April.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • H26 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Tax Evasion and Avoidance
    • H30 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents - - - General
    • K42 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law
    • O17 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Formal and Informal Sectors; Shadow Economy; Institutional Arrangements

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bas:econst:y:2023:i:3:p:64-87. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Diana Dimitrova (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ikbasbg.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.