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Tax compliance across sociodemographic categories: Meta-analyses of survey studies in 111 countries

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  • Hofmann, Eva
  • Voracek, Martin
  • Bock, Christine
  • Kirchler, Erich

Abstract

Tax compliance varies across sociodemographic categories. However, research on the relationships between compliance and age, sex, education as well as income level shows inconsistent results, both regarding the direction of the relationship and its size. The current meta-analyses target to merge findings in survey studies on age, sex, education, and income and estimate the strength of the impact on compliance by taking into account geographical regions. In four meta-analyses, comprising 459 samples (N=614,286) from 111 countries published between 1958 and 2012, average estimated effect sizes were small, ranging from r=0.12 for the relationship between compliance and age, r=0.06 for sex, r=−0.02 for education to r=−0.04 for income. These effects are more pronounced in Western countries. It thus appears sociodemographic characteristics have little impact on compliance, but nevertheless should be controlled for in tax research.

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  • Hofmann, Eva & Voracek, Martin & Bock, Christine & Kirchler, Erich, 2017. "Tax compliance across sociodemographic categories: Meta-analyses of survey studies in 111 countries," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 63-71.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:joepsy:v:62:y:2017:i:c:p:63-71
    DOI: 10.1016/j.joep.2017.06.005
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    9. 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.
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    11. Christos Kotsogiannis & Xavier Mateos-Planas, 2019. "Tax Evasion as Contingent Debt," Discussion Papers 1903, Centre for Macroeconomics (CFM).
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    18. Michele Lalla & Patrizio Frederic & Daniela Mantovani, 2022. "The inextricable association of measurement errors and tax evasion as examined through a microanalysis of survey data matched with fiscal data: a case study," Statistical Methods & Applications, Springer;Società Italiana di Statistica, vol. 31(5), pages 1375-1401, December.
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    20. James Alm & Matthias Kasper, 2020. "Laboratory Experiments," Working Papers 2008, Tulane University, Department of Economics.
    21. Kazi Abdul, Mannan & Khandaker Mursheda, Farhana, 2023. "The new fiscal sociology: a study of universal self-Assessment taxpayers in Bangladesh," MPRA Paper 117151, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2023.
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