IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wbk/wbrwps/5911.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Tax morale, eastern Europe and European enlargement

Author

Listed:
  • Torgler, Benno

Abstract

This study tries to remedy the current lack of tax compliance research analyzing tax morale in 10 Eastern European countries that joined the European Union in 2004 or 2007. By exploring tax morale differences between 1999 and 2008, it shows that tax morale has decreased in 7 out of 10 Eastern European countries. This lack of sustainability may support the incentive based conditionality hypothesis that the European Union only has a limited ability to influence tax morale over time. The author observes that events and processes at the country level are crucial to understanding tax morale. Factors such as perceived government quality and trust in the justice system and the government are positively correlated with tax morale in 2008.

Suggested Citation

  • Torgler, Benno, 2011. "Tax morale, eastern Europe and European enlargement," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5911, The World Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:5911
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/2011/12/13/000158349_20111213084401/Rendered/PDF/WPS5911.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Eric Friedman & Simon Johnson & Daniel Kaufmann & Pablo Zoido-Lobaton, 2007. "Dodging the Grabbing Hand: The Determinants of Unofficial Activity in 69 Countries," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Erik Berglöf & Gérard Roland (ed.), The Economics of Transition, chapter 9, pages 298-334, Palgrave Macmillan.
    2. Frey, Bruno S. & Torgler, Benno, 2007. "Tax morale and conditional cooperation," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 136-159, March.
    3. Bruni S. Frey, 1999. "The New Democratic Federalism For Europe," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 1679 edited by Reiner Eichenberger, December.
    4. Richard M. Bird & Jorge Martinez-Vazquez & Benno Torgler, 2014. "Societal Institutions and Tax Effort in Developing Countries," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 15(1), pages 301-351, May.
    5. Tim Haughton, 2007. "When Does the EU Make a Difference? Conditionality and the Accession Process in Central and Eastern Europe," Political Studies Review, Political Studies Association, vol. 5(2), pages 233-246, May.
    6. Baldwin, Richard E., 1995. "The Eastern enlargement of the European Union," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 39(3-4), pages 474-481, April.
    7. Torgler, Benno & Garcia-Valinas, Maria A., 2007. "The determinants of individuals' attitudes towards preventing environmental damage," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(2-3), pages 536-552, August.
    8. Kornai, Janos, 1990. "The Affinity between Ownership Forms and Coordination Mechanisms: The Common Experience of Reform in Socialist Countries," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 4(3), pages 131-147, Summer.
    9. Mudambi,Ram & Navarra,Pietro & Sobbrio,Giuseppe (ed.), 2001. "Rules and Reason," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521659598, September.
    10. Nauro F. Campos & Abrizio Coricelli, 2002. "Growth in Transition: What We Know, What We Don't, and What We Should," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 40(3), pages 793-836, September.
    11. repec:bla:jcmkts:v:46:y:2008:i::p:293-313 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Richard M. Bird & Jorge Martinez-Vazquez & Benno Torgler, 2014. "Societal Institutions and Tax Effort in Developing Countries," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 15(1), pages 301-351, May.
    13. Benno Torgler & Markus Schaffner & Alison Macintyre, 2007. "Tax Compliance, Tax Morale, and Governance Quality," International Center for Public Policy Working Paper Series, at AYSPS, GSU paper0727, International Center for Public Policy, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University.
    14. Jorge Martinez-Vazquez & Mark Rider & Sally Wallace, 2008. "Tax Reform in Russia," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 2368, December.
    15. Eric Friedman & Simon Johnson & Daniel Kaufmann & Pablo Zoido-Lobaton, 2007. "Dodging the Grabbing Hand: The Determinants of Unofficial Activity in 69 Countries," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Erik Berglöf & Gérard Roland (ed.), The Economics of Transition, chapter 9, pages 298-334, Palgrave Macmillan.
    16. Torgler, Benno & Schneider, Friedrich, 2007. "Shadow Economy, Tax Morale, Governance and Institutional Quality: A Panel Analysis," Berkeley Olin Program in Law & Economics, Working Paper Series qt26s710z8, Berkeley Olin Program in Law & Economics.
    17. repec:bla:kyklos:v:54:y:2001:i:2-3:p:415-43 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Go, Delfin S., 1994. "Revenue uncertainty and the choice of tax instrument during the transition in Eastern Europe," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1330, The World Bank.
    19. Roger H. Gordon, 1994. "Fiscal Policy during the Transition in Eastern Europe," NBER Chapters, in: The Transition in Eastern Europe, Volume 2, Restructuring, pages 37-70, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    20. Jan Hanousek & Filip Palda, 2008. "Tax Evasion Dynamics in the Czech Republic: First Evidence of an Evasional Kuznets Curve," CERGE-EI Working Papers wp360, The Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education - Economics Institute, Prague.
    21. Benno Torgler, 2003. "Tax Morale in Transition Countries," Post-Communist Economies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(3), pages 357-381.
    22. J. Kornai, 2000. "Ten Years After "The Road to a Free Economy": The Author's Self-evaluation," Voprosy Ekonomiki, NP Voprosy Ekonomiki, vol. 12.
    23. Jorge Martinez-Vazquez & Robert McNab, 2000. "Tax Reform in The Tax Reform Experiment in Transitional Countries," International Center for Public Policy Working Paper Series, at AYSPS, GSU paper0001, International Center for Public Policy, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University.
    24. Kimberly Ann Elliott, 1997. "Corruption and the Global Economy," Peterson Institute Press: All Books, Peterson Institute for International Economics, number 12.
    25. Wallace E. Oates & Wallace E. Oates, 2004. "An Essay on Fiscal Federalism," Chapters, in: Environmental Policy and Fiscal Federalism, chapter 22, pages 384-414, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    26. Arvind K. Jain, 2001. "Corruption: A Review," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(1), pages 71-121, February.
    27. Torgler, Benno & Schneider, Friedrich, 2009. "The impact of tax morale and institutional quality on the shadow economy," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 228-245, April.
    28. Jorge Martinez-Vazquez & Robert McNab, 1997. "Tax Systems in Transition Economics," International Center for Public Policy Working Paper Series, at AYSPS, GSU paper9701, International Center for Public Policy, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University.
    29. Bernardi, Luigi & Fraschini, Angela, 2005. "Tax system and tax reforms in India," POLIS Working Papers 45, Institute of Public Policy and Public Choice - POLIS.
    30. Mudambi,Ram & Navarra,Pietro & Sobbrio,Giuseppe (ed.), 2001. "Rules and Reason," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521650571, September.
    31. Jan Hanousek & Filip Palda, 2004. "Quality of Government Services and the Civic Duty to Pay Taxes in the Czech and Slovak Republics, and other Transition Countries," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(2), pages 237-252, May.
    32. Jorge Martinez-Vazquez & James Alm (ed.), 2003. "Public Finance in Developing and Transitional Countries," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 2595, December.
    33. J. Stiglitz, 1999. "Whither Reform? Ten Years of the Transition," Voprosy Ekonomiki, NP Voprosy Ekonomiki, vol. 7.
    34. Roy Bahl, 1999. "Implementation Rules For Fiscal Decentralization," International Center for Public Policy Working Paper Series, at AYSPS, GSU paper9901, International Center for Public Policy, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University.
    35. Bruno S. Frey, "undated". "Direct Democracy for Transition Countries," IEW - Working Papers 165, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - University of Zurich.
    36. Gerda Falkner & Oliver Treib, 2008. "Three Worlds of Compliance or Four? The EU‐15 Compared to New Member States," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(2), pages 293-313, March.
    37. Bird, Richard M. & Martinez-Vazquez, Jorge & Torgler, Benno, 2008. "Tax Effort in Developing Countries and High Income Countries: The Impact of Corruption, Voice and Accountability," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 55-71, March.
    38. Charles E. McLure, Jr. & Jorge Martinez-Vazquez, 1998. "Intergovernmental Fiscal Relations in Vietnam," International Center for Public Policy Working Paper Series, at AYSPS, GSU paper9802, International Center for Public Policy, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University.
    39. Jorge Martinez-Vazquez, 2001. "Mexico: An Evaluation of the Main Features of the Tax System," International Center for Public Policy Working Paper Series, at AYSPS, GSU paper0112, International Center for Public Policy, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Luca Andriani, 2012. "Tax Morale and Pro-Social Behavior: Evidence from a Palestinian Survey," Working Papers 712, Economic Research Forum, revised 2012.
    2. Josip Franic, 2019. "Undeclared Economy in Croatia during the 2004–2017 Period: Quarterly Estimates Using the MIMIC Method," Croatian Economic Survey, The Institute of Economics, Zagreb, vol. 21(1), pages 5-46, June.
    3. Călin Vâlsan & Elena Druică & Rodica Ianole-Călin, 2020. "State Capacity and Tolerance towards Tax Evasion: First Evidence from Romania," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-18, June.
    4. Jaanika Merikull & Tairi Room & Karsten Staehr, 2013. "Perceptions of unreported economic activities in Baltic Firms. Individualistic and non-individualistic motives," Bank of Estonia Working Papers wp2012-8, Bank of Estonia, revised 04 Feb 2013.

    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. Torgler, Benno, 2011. "Tax morale and compliance : review of evidence and case studies for Europe," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5922, The World Bank.
    2. Benno Torgler, 2004. "Tax Morale, Trust and Corruption: Empirical Evidence from Transition Countries," CREMA Working Paper Series 2004-05, Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA).
    3. Dong, Bin & Dulleck, Uwe & Torgler, Benno, 2012. "Conditional corruption," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 609-627.
    4. Benno Torgler, 2003. "Tax Morale in Transition Countries," Post-Communist Economies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(3), pages 357-381.
    5. Ferrer-i-Carbonell, Ada & Gërxhani, Klarita, 2016. "Tax evasion and well-being: A study of the social and institutional context in Central and Eastern Europe," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 45(S), pages 149-159.
    6. Torgler, Benno & Schneider, Friedrich, 2009. "The impact of tax morale and institutional quality on the shadow economy," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 228-245, April.
    7. Nikopour, Hesam & Shah Habibullah, Muzafar & Schneider, Friedrich & Law, Siong Hook, 2009. "Foreign Direct Investment and Shadow Economy: A Causality Analysis Using Panel Data," MPRA Paper 14485, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. 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.
    9. Dagmara Nikulin & Ewa Lechman, 2021. "Shadow Economy in Poland: Results of the Survey," SpringerBriefs in Economics, in: Shadow Economy in Poland, chapter 0, pages 49-65, Springer.
    10. Benno Torgler, 2005. "Tax morale in Latin America," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 122(1), pages 133-157, January.
    11. Benno Torgler & Friedrich Schneider & Christoph Schaltegger, 2010. "Local autonomy, tax morale, and the shadow economy," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 144(1), pages 293-321, July.
    12. Benno Torgler & Friedrich Schneider & Christoph Schaltegger, 2010. "Local autonomy, tax morale, and the shadow economy," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 144(1), pages 293-321, July.
    13. Bruno S. Frey & Benno Torgler, 2004. "Taxation and Conditional Taxation," Working Papers 2004/7, Institut d'Economia de Barcelona (IEB).
    14. Dong, Bin & Dulleck, Uwe & Torgler, Benno, 2012. "Conditional corruption," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 609-627.
    15. Bruno S. Frey & Benno Torgler, 2004. "Taxation and Conditional Cooperation," CREMA Working Paper Series 2004-20, Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA).
    16. Torgler, Benno & Schneider, Friedrich & Schaltegger, Christoph A., 2007. "With or Against the People? The Impact of a Bottom-Up Approach on Tax Morale and the Shadow Economy," Berkeley Olin Program in Law & Economics, Working Paper Series qt6331x6vz, Berkeley Olin Program in Law & Economics.
    17. Richard M. Bird & Jorge Martinez-Vazquez & Benno Torgler, 2014. "Societal Institutions and Tax Effort in Developing Countries," Annals of Economics and Finance, Society for AEF, vol. 15(1), pages 301-351, May.
    18. Torgler, Benno & Schneider, Friedrich, 2007. "Shadow Economy, Tax Morale, Governance and Institutional Quality: A Panel Analysis," Berkeley Olin Program in Law & Economics, Working Paper Series qt26s710z8, Berkeley Olin Program in Law & Economics.
    19. Torgler, Benno & Schneider, Friedrich, 2007. "Shadow Economy, Tax Morale, Governance and Institutional Quality: A Panel Analysis," Berkeley Olin Program in Law & Economics, Working Paper Series qt26s710z8, Berkeley Olin Program in Law & Economics.
    20. 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.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Taxation&Subsidies; Debt Markets; Subnational Economic Development; Emerging Markets; National Governance;
    All these keywords.

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:wbk:wbrwps:5911. 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: Roula I. Yazigi (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dvewbus.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.