A model of individual tax compliance behavior, including evasion and avoidance, is developed and estimated. The model recognizes the importance of marginal income tax rates, payroll tax contributions and benefits, and the probability of detection and the penalty on unpaid taxes. Share equations...

This paper uses experimental methods to explore the major factors that affect tax compliance. Perhaps most importantly, the role of social norms in compliance is examined by comparing compliance experiments administered in different countries (Spain versus the United States), countries whose...

In this paper we examine what experiments on tax compliance have revealed about compliance behavior, and we discuss what these experiments can reveal about managerial and decision economics. We draw two general conclusions from this discussion. First, compliance is a complicated decision, one...

This paper uses experimental methods to examine the effectiveness of endogenous audit selection rules in which the audit probability depends upon taxpayer actions. The results indicate that endogenous rules are able to generate compliance far greater than random audit rules, even when the random...

Laboratory experiments have proven increasingly useful in all areas of economics. This paper discusses the methodology of experimental economics, highlights its strengths and weaknesses, discusses many of the applications of experimental methods to public economics, and suggests topics in which...

Policymakers have directed much effort towards reducing or eliminating the so-called "marriage penalty" present in the U.S. individual income tax. However, because the marriage penalty is frequently misunderstood, many suggested remedies do little to reduce the penalty, and in some cases even...

Strategies for reducing tax evasion include stricter enforcement, but taxpayer responses to increased enforcement are difficult to measure with field data. We use experimental methods to examine individual compliance responses to advance information on audit probability and productivity. Our...