Ethical Perception of Tax Evasion: Determinants and Consequences on Voluntary Tax Compliance

Authors

  • Arfah Habib Saragih Departemen Ilmu Administrasi Fiskal, Fakultas Ilmu Administrasi, Universitas Indonesia https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4190-3196
  • I Dewa Nyoman Suartama Putra Departemen Ilmu Administrasi Fiskal, Fakultas Ilmu Administrasi, Universitas Indonesia

:

https://doi.org/10.9744/jak.23.1.1-14

Keywords:

ethical perception, tax evasion, tax compliance, ethical philosophy, tax knowledge, education level moral judgment

Abstract

This study investigates the factors of ethical perception of tax evasion. We also investigate the effect of ethical perception on tax compliance. Surveys were conducted with 291 participants consist of student, lecturer, professional, and business owner from various backgrounds and majors. Our analysis shows a negative and significant effect of idealism, tax knowledge toward the ethical perception of tax evasion, a positive and significant impact of relativism toward the ethics perception of tax evasion, and no significant effect of religiosity and educational level toward the ethics perception of tax evasion. We found that ethical perception is a significant predictor of voluntary tax compliance.

Author Biography

Arfah Habib Saragih, Departemen Ilmu Administrasi Fiskal, Fakultas Ilmu Administrasi, Universitas Indonesia

Departemen Ilmu Administrasi Fiskal, Fakultas Ilmu Administrasi, Universitas Indonesia

References

Abou Hashish, E. A., & Ali Awad, N. H. (2019). Relationship between ethical ideology and moral judgment: Academic nurse educators’ perception. Nursing Ethics, 26(3), 845–858. https://doi.org/10.1177/0969733017722825

Ahmadi, V., Davoudi, I., Mardani, M., Ghazaei, M., & ZareZadegan, B. (2013). The Relationships Among Moral Development, Religiosity and Religious Orientation in Students. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 84, 674–678. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2013.06.624

Arrington, C. E., & Reckers, P. M. J. (1985). A Social-Psychological Investigation into Perceptions of Tax Evasion. Accounting and Business Research, 15(59), 163–176. https://doi.org/10.1080/00014788.1985.9729263

Barnett, T., Bass, K., & Brown, G. (1994). Ethical ideology and ethical judgment regarding ethical issues in business. Journal of Business Ethics, 13(6), 469–480. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00881456

Baumsteiger, R., Chenneville, T., & McGuire, J. F. (2013). The Roles of Religiosity and Spirituality in Moral Reasoning. Ethics & Behavior, 23(4), 266–277. https://doi.org/10.1080/10508422.2013.782814

Benk, S., McGee, R. W., & Yiizbafi, B. (2015). How religions affect attitudes toward ethics of tax evasion? A comparative and demographic analysis. Journal for the Study of Religions and Ideologies, 14(41), 202–223.

Bornman, M., & Ramutumbu, P. (2019). A conceptual framework of tax knowledge. Meditari Accountancy Research, 27(6), 823–839. https://doi.org/10.1108/MEDAR-09-2018-0379

Cechovsky, N. (2018). The importance of tax knowledge for tax compliance: A study on the tax literacy of vocational business students. European Conference on Educational Research (ECER), Vocational Education and Training Network (VETNET), September, 113–121. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1319718

Chan, C. W., Troutman, C. S., & O’Bryan, D. (2000). An expanded model of taxpayer compliance: Empirical evidence from the United States and Hong Kong. Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, 9(2), 83–103. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1061-9518(00)00027-6

Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical Power Analysis For The Behavioral Sciences (2nd ed.). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Corcoran, R. P., O’Flaherty, J., Xie, C., & Cheung, A. C. K. (2020). Conceptualizing and measuring social and emotional learning: A systematic review and meta-analysis of moral reasoning and academic achievement, religiosity, political orientation, personality. In Educational Research Review (Vol. 30, p. 100285). Elsevier Ltd. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2019.100285

Culiberg, B., & Bajde, D. (2014). Do You Need a Receipt? Exploring Consumer Participation in Consumption Tax Evasion as an Ethical Dilemma. Journal of Business Ethics, 124(2), 271–282. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-013-1870-4

Daniel, D., & Wong, B. (2008). Issues on compliance and ethics in taxation: what do we know? Journal of Financial Crime, 15(4), 369–382. https://doi.org/10.1108/13590790810907218

Dee Theng, T. (2012). Ethical perception on tax evasion by professional in Malaysia - ProQuest. https://remote-lib.ui.ac.id:2089/docview/1669495424/8DAA274E5A76465BPQ/3?accountid=17242

Devos, K. (2016). A comparative study of compliant and non-compliant individual taxpayers in Australia. Journal of Business and Policy Research, 2(2), 180–196.

Dewanta, M. A., & Machmuddah, Z. (2019). Gender, Religiosity, Love of Money, and Ethical Perception of Tax Evasion. Jurnal Dinamika Akuntansi Dan Bisnis, 6(1), 71–84. https://doi.org/10.24815/jdab.v6i1.10990

Douglas, P. C., Davidson, R. A., & Schwartz, B. N. (2001). The effect of organizational culture and ethical orientation on accountants’ ethical judgments. Journal of Business Ethics, 34(2), 101–121. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1012261900281

Eriksen, K., & Lars, F. (1996). Tax Knowledge and Attitudes Towards Taxation: A Report on a Quasi-experiment. Journal of Economic Psychology, 17, 387–402.

Fallan, L. (1999). Gender, Exposure to Tax Knowledge, and Attitudes towards Taxation; An Experimental Approach. Journal of Business Ethics, 18(2), 173–184. https://remote-lib.ui.ac.id:2101/stable/pdf/25074044.pdf?ab_segments=0%252Fbasic_SYC-5187%252Ftest&refreqid=excelsior%3A619da7b5256defaa9deb3302e325b172

Fornell, C., & Larcker, D. F. (1981). Evaluating Structural Equation Models with Unobservable Variables and Measurement Error. Journal of Marketing Research, 18(1), 39–50.

Forsyth, D. (1981). Moral Judgment: The Influence of Ethical Ideology. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 7(2), 218–223. https://doi.org/10.1177/014616728172006

Forsyth, D. R. (1980). A Taxonomy of Ethical Ideologies. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 39(1), 175–184. https://doi.org/10.2307/524528

Forsyth, D. R., O’Boyle, E. H., & McDaniel, M. A. (2008). East meets West: A meta-analytic investigation of cultural variations in idealism and relativism. Journal of Business Ethics, 83(4), 813–833. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-008-9667-6

Garson, G. D. (2016). Partial Least Squares: Regression & Structural Equation Models. In Politeness and Audience Response in Chinese-English Subtitling. Statistical Publishing Associates. https://doi.org/10.3726/978-3-0353-0280-6/8

Getz, I. R. (1984). Moral Judgment and Religion: A Review of the Literature. Counseling and Values, 28(3), 94–116. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2161-007X.1984.tb01153.x

Hair, Joe F., Sarstedt, M., Ringle, C. M., & Mena, J. A. (2012). An assessment of the use of partial least squares structural equation modeling in marketing research. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 40(3), 414–433. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-011-0261-6

Hair, Joseph F., Hult, G. T. M., Ringle, C. M., & Sarstedt, M. (2017). A Primer on Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling. SAGE.

Hair, Joseph F., Risher, J. J., Sarstedt, M., & Ringle, C. M. (2019). When to use and how to report the results of PLS-SEM. In European Business Review (Vol. 31, Issue 1, pp. 2–24). Emerald Group Publishing Ltd. https://doi.org/10.1108/EBR-11-2018-0203

Henseler, J., Ringle, C. M., & Sinkovics, R. R. (2009). The use of partial least squares path modeling in international marketing. Advances in International Marketing, 20(January), 277–319. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1474-7979(2009)0000020014

Huber, S., & Huber, O. W. (2012). The Centrality of Religiosity Scale (CRS). Religions, 3(3), 710–724. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel3030710

Jun, B. W., & Yoon, S. M. (2018). Taxpayer’s religiosity, religion, and the perceptions of tax equity: Case of south Korea. Religions, 9(11), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel9110333

Keil, M., Tan, B. C. Y., Wei, K.-K., Saarinen, T., Tuunainen, V., & Wassenaar, A. (2000). A Cross-Cultural Study on Escalation of Commitment Behavior in Software Projects. MIS Quarterly, 24(2), 299–325.

Khalil, S. (2020). The influence of religiosity on tax evasion attitudes in Lebanon. Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, 100335. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intaccaudtax.2020.100335

King, P. M., & Mayhew, M. J. (2002). Moral judgment development in higher education: Insights from the Defining Issues Test. Journal of Moral Education, 31(3), 247–270. https://doi.org/10.1080/0305724022000008106

Kirchler, E., Maciejovsky, B., & Schneider, F. (2003). Everyday representations of tax avoidance, tax evasion, and tax flight: Do legal differences matter? Journal of Economic Psychology, 24(4), 535–553. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0167-4870(02)00164-2

Kirchler, E., & Wahl, I. (2010). Tax compliance inventory TAX-I: Designing an inventory for surveys of tax compliance. Journal of Economic Psychology, 31(3), 331–346. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joep.2010.01.002

Kock, N. (2014). Advanced Mediating Effects Tests, Multi-Group Analyses, and Measurement Model Assessments in PLS-Based SEM. International Journal of E-Collaboration, 10(1), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.4018/ijec.2014010101

Kock, N. (2015). One-tailed or two-tailed P values in PLS-SEM? International Journal of E-Collaboration, 11(2), 1–7. https://doi.org/10.4018/ijec.2015040101

Kock, N. (2016). Hypothesis testing with confidence intervals and P values in PLS-SEM. International Journal of E-Collaboration, 12(3), 1–6.

Kock, N., & Gaskins, L. (2014). The Mediating Role of Voice and Accountability in the Relationship Between Internet Diffusion and Government Corruption in Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa. Information Technology for Development, 20(1), 23–43. https://doi.org/10.1080/02681102.2013.832129

Kock, N., & Lynn, G. S. (2012). Lateral collinearity and misleading results in variance-based SEM: An illustration and recommendations. Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 13(7), 546–580. https://doi.org/10.17705/1jais.00302

Kohlberg, L. (1969). Stage and sequence;The cognitive-developmental approach to socialization.

Kohlberg, Lawrence. (1981). The philosophy of moral development moral stages and the idea of justice.

Mahaputra, I. N. K. A., Rustiarini, N. W., Anggraini, N. P. N., & Sudiartana, I. M. (2018). National Culture and Perceived Ethics of Tax Evasion: Case of Bali Province. Journal of Economics, Business & Accountancy Ventura, 21(1), 89–104. https://doi.org/10.14414/jebav.v21i1.1118

Marta, J., Heiss, C. M., & De Lurgio, S. A. (2008). An exploratory comparison of ethical perceptions of Mexican and U.S. marketers. Journal of Business Ethics, 82(3), 539–555. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-007-9575-1

McGee, R. W. (2012a). Attitudes on the Ethics of Tax EvasionL A Survey of Philosophy Professors. In R. W. McGee (Ed.), The Ethics of Tax Evasion: Perspectives in Theory and Practice (pp. 125–132). Springer New York LLC. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-1287-8

McGee, R. W. (2012b). Christian Views on the Ethics of Tax Evasion. In R. W. McGee (Ed.), The Ethics of Tax Evasion: Perspectives in Theory and Practice (pp. 201–210). Springer New York LLC. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-1287-8

McGee, R. W. (2012c). Education Level and the Ethics of Tax Evasion. In R. W. McGee (Ed.), The Ethics of Tax Evasion: Perspectives in Theory and Practice (pp. 451–457). Springer New York LLC. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-1287-8

McGee, R. W. (Ed.). (2012d). The Ethic of Tax Evasion. Springer New York LLC. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8594.2011.00390.x

McGee, R. W., Alver, J., & Alver, L. (2012). Tax Evasion Opinion in Estonia. In R. W. McGee (Ed.), The Ethics of Tax Evasion: Perspectives in Theory and Practice (pp. 285–299). Springer New York LLC. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-1287-8

McGee, R. W., & Jain, R. K. (2012). The Ethics of Tax Evasion: A Study of Indian Opinion. In R. W. McGee (Ed.), The Ethics of Tax Evasion: Perspectives in Theory and Practice (pp. 321–336). Springer New York LLC. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-1287-8

McGee, R. W., & M’Zali, B. (2013). The Ethics of Tax Evasion: A Study of Haitian Op. In R. W. McGee (Ed.), The Ethics of Tax Evasion: Perspectives in Theory and Practice (pp. 301–308). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-1287-8

McGee, R. W., Petrides, Y., & Ross, A. M. (2012). Ethics and Tax Evasion: A Survey of Mexican Opinion. In R. W. McGee (Ed.), The Ethics of Tax Evasion: Perspectives in Theory and Practice (pp. 387–403). Springer New York LLC.

McGee, R. W., & Yoon, Y. (2014). Attitudes Toward Tax Evasion in Korea: A Study in Public Finance. In Handbook of Asian Finance: Financial Markets and Sovereign Wealth Funds (Vol. 1, pp. 272–283). Elsevier Inc. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-800982-6.00015-9

Mei Tan, L., & Chin-Fatt, C. (2000). The Impact of Tax Knowledge on the Perceptions of Tax Fairness and Attitudes Towards Compliance. Asian Review of Accounting, 8(1), 44–58. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb060720

Mooi, E., & Sarstedt, M. (2011). A Concise Guide to Market Research: The Process, Data and Methods using IBM SPSS Statistics. Springer Heidelberg Dordrecht London New York.

Mujiyati, M., Rohmawati, F. R., & Ririn, W. H. (2018). Determinan Persepsi Mengenai Etika Atas Penggelapan Pajak (Tax Evasion). Riset Akuntansi Dan Keuangan Indonesia, 3(1), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.23917/reaksi.v3i1.5551

Pearl, J. (2009). Causality: Models, Reasoning, and Inference. Cambridge university press.

Reckers, P. M. J., Sanders, D. L., & Roark, S. J. (1994). The Influence of Ethical Attitudes on Taxpayer Compliance. National Tax Association, 47(4), 825–836.

Rest, J., Thoma, S., & Edwards, L. (1997). Designing and validating a measure of moral judgment: Stage preference and stage consistency approaches. Journal of Educational Psychology, 89(1), 5–28. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.89.1.5

Rest, J R, & Barnett, R. (1986). Moral Development: Advances in Research and Theory. Praeger. https://books.google.co.id/books?id=YDB-AAAAMAAJ

Rest, James R. (1973). The hierarchical nature of moral judgment: A study of patterns of comprehension and preference of moral stages. Journal of Personality, 41(1), 86–109. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6494.1973.tb00662.x

Rest, James R., & Thoma, S. J. (1985). Relation of Moral Judgment Development to Formal Education. Developmental Psychology, 21(4), 709–714. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.21.4.709

Reynolds, S. J., & Ceranic, T. L. (2007). The Effects of Moral Judgment and Moral Identity on Moral Behavior: An Empirical Examination of the Moral Individual. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92(6), 1610–1624. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.92.6.1610

Sichel, B. A. (1976). The Relation Between Moral Judgment and Moral Behaviour in Kohlberg’s Theory of the Development of Moral Judgements. Educational Philosophiu and Theory, 8(1), 55–67.

Sidani, Y. M., Ghanem, A. J., & Rawwas, M. Y. A. (2014). When idealists evade taxes: The influence of personal moral philosophy on attitudes to tax evasion - A Lebanese study. Business Ethics, 23(2), 183–196. https://doi.org/10.1111/beer.12046

Strielkowski, W., & Čábelková, I. (2015). Religion, culture, and tax evasion: Evidence from the Czech Republic. Religions, 6(2), 657–669. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel6020657

Torgler, B. (2012). Attitudes Toward Paying Taxes in USA: An Empirical Analysis. In R. W. McGee (Ed.), The Ethics of Tax Evasion: Perspectives in Theory and Practice. Springer New York LLC.

Torgler, B., & Schneider, F. (2007). What shapes attitudes toward paying taxes? Evidence from multicultural European countries. Social Science Quarterly, 88(2), 443–470. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6237.2007.00466.x

Trivedi, V. U., Shehata, M., & Lynn, B. (2003). Impact of Personal and Situational Factors on Taxpayer Compliance: An Experimental Analysis. Journal of Business Ethics, 47(3), 175–197. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1026294332606

Valentine, S., & Bateman, C. (2011). The impact of ethical ideologies, moral intensity, and social context on sales-based ethical reasoning. Journal of Business Ethics, 102(1), 155–168.

Wilson, K. L., Rest, J. R., Boldizar, J. P., & Deemer, D. K. (1992). Moral judgment development: The effects of education and occupation. Social Justice Research, 5(1), 31–48. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01048376

Downloads

Published

2021-09-09

How to Cite

Saragih, A. H., & Putra, I. D. N. S. (2021). Ethical Perception of Tax Evasion: Determinants and Consequences on Voluntary Tax Compliance. Jurnal Akuntansi Dan Keuangan, 23(1), 1-14. https://doi.org/10.9744/jak.23.1.1-14

Issue

Section

Articles