The Role of Emotions in Attitudes toward Ethics of Tax Evasion: An Empirical Study

Abstract

This research examines the effect of positive and negative emotions on Turkish taxpayers' attitudes regarding the ethics of tax evasion. A questionnaire survey was administered to 464 Turkish individual taxpayers. To determine how emotions influenced the ethics of tax evasion (the dependent variable), simple linear regression models were utilized. This determination was carried out separately for positive and negative emotions (the independent variables). The regression results reveal that positive emotions have a substantial negative effect (ß = -0.482) on attitudes toward tax evasion, explaining approximately 24% of the variance (R2 = 0.238), whereas negative emotions exhibit a distinct positive impact (ß = 0.435) with a lower explanatory power (R2 = 0.127).The data indicate that greater positive emotionality among participants correlated with a stronger conviction that tax evasion is unethical. In contrast, heightened negative emotions were associated with an increased perception of tax evasion as ethical. Nevertheless, negative emotions explained only a small fraction of the variation in ethical judgments regarding tax evasion, implying that other significant determinants are operative. Moreover, the magnitude of the effect of negative emotions was less than that of positive emotions. The implications of these findings for policymakers are substantial. Governments could potentially enhance tax compliance through the implementation of interventions designed to augment positive emotional responses among taxpayers. Such interventions might include public awareness campaigns that emphasize the societal benefits derived from tax contributions, or the enhancement of taxpayer experience through the promotion of transparent and equitable tax administration practices. Conversely, strategies aimed at the reduction of negative emotional states may serve to mitigate propensities toward tax evasion. This research is particularly significant as it represents a pioneering study on the influence of emotions on Turkish taxpayers' attitudes toward the ethics of tax evasion. The findings contribute to the public finance literature by filling a critical void, as this body of work has historically overlooked the emotional aspects of taxpayer decision-making.

Keywords

• Ethics
• Tax Evasion
• Positive Emotions
• Negative Emotions
• PANAS
• Türkiye.

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