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Tulane Economics Working Paper Series
Rethinking the Research Paradigms for Analyzing Tax Compliance Behavior
James AlmDepartment of Economics
Tulane UniversityNew Orleans, LA jalm@tulane.edu
Erich KirchlerStephan Muehlbacher
Katharina GanglEva Hofmann
Christoph KoglerMaria Pollai
Department of Applied Psychology:Work, Education and Economy
University of ViennaVienna, Austria
maria.pollai@univie.ac.at
Working Paper 1210July 2012
Abstract
In this paper we give our perspective on the different paradigms that have shaped—and seem likely toshape in the future—research in the field of tax compliance behavior. These research paradigms includeviewing tax evasion as a decision under risk made by a single taxpayer, as a social dilemma in whichthere is a tension between individual interests (e.g., cheating on one’s taxes) and collective goals (e.g.,providing public goods), as a series of decisions made by many different types of taxpayers, and as apsychological contract between tax authorities and taxpayers. We argue that these different paradigmsrequire that particular attention be paid to the main “actors in the field”, which involves going beyonda focus on a single taxpayer to consider other taxpayers, tax accountants, the tax authorities, and thegovernment. The ways in which these actors interact in different climates, especially the dynamicsof power and trust between the actors, must also be considered. We conclude with a discussion of a framework—the “slippery slope framework”—that attempts to synthesize these different research
paradigms. Throughout, we illustrate our arguments by reference to research that focuses especially onthe European experience.
Keywords: tax evasion, behavioral economics, social norms, “slippery slope”JEL: H26, D03
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