Corruption in the public sector erodes tax compliance and leads to higher tax evasion. Moreover, corrupt public officials abuse their public power to extort bribes from the private agents. In both types of interaction with the public sector, the private agents are bound to face uncertainty with...

This study empirically investigates the deficit/tax-compliance hypothesis that higher federal budget deficits resulting from increased government spending lead to decreased federal personal income tax compliance in the U.S. The study period runs from 1960-2001 and adopts annual data. After...

We study the effects of patriotism on tax compliance. If individuals feel a (random) patriotic warm glow from honest tax compliance, this has implications for optimal auditing and tax compliance. A higher expected warm glow reduces the government's optimal audit probability and yields higher tax...

We analyze the tax evasion problem with social interaction among the taxpayers. If the authority commits to a fixed auditing probability, a positive share of cheating is obtained in equilibrium. This stands in contrast to the existing literature, which yields full compliance of audited taxpayers...

A robust prediction from the tax evasion literature is that optimal auditing induces a regressive bias in e¤ective tax rates compared to statutory rates. If correct, this will have important distributional consequences. Nevertheless, the regressive bias hypothesis has never been tested...

This study investigates the hypothesis that higher federal budget deficits act to increase the degree of federal personal income tax evasion in the U.S. Using annual data on aggregate personal income tax evasion for the period 1961-1997, 1997 being the most recent year for which all of the...

Unaccounted for currency in the U.S. is argued to reflect the presence of widespread income tax evasion. This empirical study seeks to identify determinants of the underground economy in the U.S. in the form of federal personal income tax evasion over the period 1970-2008. In this study, we use...

As an alternative to analyzing field data, our research utilizes controlled laboratory experiments with human decision makers and salient financial incentives. Within the laboratory, we determine (hence, know) the true tax liability, and then identify the effects of information services by...