IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/bog/wpaper/355.html

Can higher education levels improve tax compliance?

Author

Listed:
  • Emmanouil Taxiarchis Gazilas

    (University of Piraeus)

  • Zacharias Bragoudakis

    (Bank of Greece)

Abstract

This paper examines how governance and education affect VAT compliance in 25 EU nations between 2008 and 2022. The dependent variable is the VAT gap, which is the difference between expected and actual VAT revenue. GDP growth is included as a macroeconomic control, and governance metrics like regulatory quality and corruption control are examined alongside education indicators, such as primary, secondary, and tertiary enrollment. The research takes time and country-specific heterogeneity into account using fixed effects panel regression. According to the results, higher levels of education are linked to improved VAT compliance, indicating that education increases civic engagement and tax morale. While higher corruption is associated with increased VAT gaps, stronger regulations also improve compliance. Additionaly, the findings show the way human capital, institutional quality, and economic conditions interact to shape fiscal outcomes. Findings further provide policymakers evidence that integrating social and institutional strategies can increase tax collection and decrease tax evasion.

Suggested Citation

  • Emmanouil Taxiarchis Gazilas & Zacharias Bragoudakis, 2026. "Can higher education levels improve tax compliance?," Working Papers 355, Bank of Greece.
    • Handle: RePEc:bog:wpaper:355
    DOI: 10.52903/wp2026355
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.52903/wp2026355
    File Function: Full Text
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.52903/wp2026355?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • H1 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government
    • H26 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Tax Evasion and Avoidance
    • H20 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - General
    • I25 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Economic Development
    • C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models

    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:bog:wpaper:355. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: Anastasios Rizos (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/boggvgr.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.