Corruption and Public Spending as Predictors of Tax Evasion in Libya: Political Instability as a Moderator

Taxation remains a vital and dependable source of revenue for governments, playing a key role in promoting social and economic development. In Libya, despite ongoing efforts to strengthen tax collection mechanisms, compliance among self-employed individuals remains persistently low, leading to substantial revenue shortfalls. The impact of public expenditure and perceived corruption on tax evasion, particularly within the context of Libya’s ongoing political instability, remains insufficiently explored in the existing literature. These factors may be?important in molding the compliance of the taxpayer. This research sought to explore the effect of perceived corruption and public spending on tax evasion,?while political instability was considered as a moderating variable. Questionnaires were distributed to 369 self-employed taxpayers in Libya which were analyzed by?Smart-PLS version 4. Findings show that there is a positive and statistically significant relationship between perceived corruption and tax evasion while?the relationship between public spending and tax evasion is negative and statistically significant. Though political instability does not significantly moderate the relationship between corruption and tax evasion, it does moderate the relationship between public?spending and tax evasion. The results provide important policy?implications that would benefit tax authorities aimed at increasing revenue collection and minimizing evasion in Libya's independent sector.