Taxpayer psychology refers to all taxpayers’ perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors regarding taxes and taxation. Internal, personal, and demographic factors such as age, gender, education, profession, marital status, belief structure, and income level, as well as external and environmental factors such as high tax rates, tax burden level, frequency of tax amnesty, and the deterrent effect of tax penalties and audits determine taxpayers’ tax perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors. These factors also affect tax compliance and tax awareness.

The study examines the previous studies in the literature on taxpayer psychology, such as applied studies that have investigated taxpayer attitudes and behaviors independently of the effects and consequences of earthquakes in the cities and regions that have been selected for experiencing any of the last three major earthquake disasters in Türkiye. In other words, the aim of the study is to examine various studies in the field of taxpayer psychology, specifically the limited studies in the literature on taxpayers in cities where the last three major earthquakes (i.e., the Kocaeli earthquake in 1999 and Kahramanmaraş earthquakes in 2023) had occurred. The justification for choosing these cities is that they represent different regions and cultural textures and are able to provide satisfactory results in terms of a regional comparison. The importance of the study is in how it demonstrates the general tax tendencies of taxpayers in earthquake zones irrespective of the earthquakes, as studies may have been conducted before or after the date of said earthquakes, in how it draws attention to what the taxpayers’ attitudes and behaviors towards taxes are, in how it introduces a new perspective to the subject by revealing the similarities and differences in terms of taxpayer psychology in Türkiye in general and between regions in particular, and in how it makes certain predictions for the future based on the results obtained from the research.

Tax psychology is a discipline that addresses all dimensions of taxpayer psychology and basically focuses on tax mentality and tax morality. To say that tax problems can be completely eliminated if only these two elements are provided in a country is difficult. According to the international and national literature, however, tax losses and evasion can be greatly reduced to the extent that a tax mentality and a tax morale are formed in a society, in addition to informality largely becoming preventable and the problem of tax compliance being able to be practically eliminated by enabling voluntary participation in taxes and establishing tax awareness.

Due to Türkiye’s geographical location, it is a country crossed by high tension fault lines. Therefore, the risk of an earthquake happening is extremely high. Historically, the country can be said to have had many violent and destructive earthquakes, with Kocaeli earthquake of August 17, 1999 and Kahramanmaraş earthquakes of February 6, 2023 being the recent main ones. Based on this and within the scope of a literature review, this article takes into consideration research on cities these earthquakes had greatly impacted. Apart from selecting earthquake cities as samples, however, the study does not aim to conduct any research on earthquakes, such as determining what needs to be done in the context of the effects, consequences, or tax psychology of earthquakes. Instead, the purpose of choosing these cities is to cover a wide area that allows for a regional comparison. In this context, the article examines many academic studies, especially doctoral dissertations, master’s theses, articles, and research books, and comparatively analyzes the research methods and findings with studies conducted in Türkiye in general and in the earthquake-affected regions and cities in particular before arriving at some conclusions. The detailed literature review found no study on taxpayer psychology to have specifically been conducted for Kahramanmaraş. The analysis does include cities other than Kahramanmaraş such as Kocaeli, Hatay, Gaziantep, Malatya, Adıyaman, Diyarbakır, Şanlıurfa, and Adana that had been affected by any of these three major earthquake disasters. In addition to these cities, the research also includes Istanbul, which may be at the locus of a major Marmara earthquake, as well as a sociological summary of Türkiye. Although the scarcity of studies in the field of tax psychology in these mentioned cities has made the research difficult, the conclusion has been made that focusing on the subject is important in order to provide a general idea. When compiling the studies in the literature, this article has included the most comprehensive studies for Türkiye in general (Zenginobuz et al., 2010), for the Southeastern Anatolia Region (Çiçek et al., 2008), and for the Eastern Anatolia Region (Gürçam, 2016) to allow for a comparison and a view of the general trends.

When analyzing and evaluating all the findings obtained as a result of the literature review, some similarities and differences are encountered regarding the research conducted on the psychology of taxpayers in the cities and regions where the last three major earthquake disasters in Türkiye had occurred. At the same time, some parallel results were encountered with other studies measuring taxpayer psychology that had been conducted throughout Türkiye.

The research conducted on the psychology of taxpayers in cities where the major earthquakes had occurred and on taxpayers throughout Türkiye made the common inference that voluntary tax compliance cannot be achieved due to the following reasons: paying taxes is a civic duty, tax rates and tax burdens are very high, the tax system is unfair, frequent tax amnesties reward those who do not pay, taxes are not sufficiently reflected in public services, public expenditures are ineffective and wasteful, the problem of informality further increases the tax burden, the tax administration takes a negative approach toward taxpayers, tax legislation is complex and changes frequently, and the numerous administrative formalities. 

Differences are found in terms of tax compliance and taxpayer psychology among the metropolitan cities that have experienced major earthquakes and other cities in the Marmara Region, the Eastern Anatolia Region, and the Southeastern Anatolia Region. In cities such as Istanbul and Kocaeli, the views on taxes and tax compliance are more positive compared to the cities where Kahramanmaraş earthquakes had occurred, while the psychological cost of tax compliance is lower. Many factors impact this, such as the level at which public services are utilized, ethnic identity and belonging, education level, and participation in business life.

Based on the findings from the research conducted specifically for the cities where Kahramanmaraş earthquakes had affected, three situations stand out that differed from the research conducted for other cities. Firstly, in these cities taxpayers had positive views toward tax inspectors. Secondly, a relationship was found between support or sense of belonging to the government and tax payment behavior. In other words, those who supported the current government were prone to pay taxes unconditionally because they trusted the government. Thirdly, offering privileges to Syrian refugees and immigrants negatively affected competition in the eyes of taxpayers and did not provide a fair environment. Based on the findings in this context, the opinions that Syrians do not pay taxes, that they have no tax duties, and that citizens are not provided with any financial support while Syrians are provided with income support (e.g., Turkish tradesmen having difficulty fulfilling their tax duties) can be evaluated as being prevalent.

When considering all these results, this study concludes that the need exists for participatory structural reforms in which taxpayers are included in the process by switching to policies and practices in which taxpayers’ demands and expectations are taken into account, in which taxpayers trust more, and with which they are prone to comply more voluntarily. When considering that increasing tax compliance depends on implementing a taxpayer-based approach, increasing the social acceptance of any regulation, policy, and practice regarding taxation becomes important, as well as approaching it with sensitivity. Particularly in the earthquake region, it is important that the tax expenditures (all kinds of incentives, subsidies, discounts, exceptions and exemptions) made by the state are appropriate for the purpose and aimed at mitigating relieving the grievances of all citizens affected by the earthquake.

As a result of the literature review and evaluation in Türkiye, some deficiencies are identified in order to guide and shed light on future studies. Although many factors affecting taxpayer psychology are included in existing studies, results that are able to reveal the general situation were observed to not be sufficiently obtainable due to the narrow scope of the samples. The study’s contribution is demonstrated by the fact that almost no studies are found to have made regional comparisons due to the scarcity of regional studies. Another deficiency in the literature is the lack of studies on taxpayers living in the current 30 metropolitan municipalities in Türkiye. In addition, the taxpayer distributions (e.g., in terms of taxpayers who obtain all the income and revenue elements regarding income tax) in the studies that have been conducted and their scope in terms of the total number of taxpayers being narrow and unbalanced (i.e., mostly conducted with a small number of citizens paying similar taxes) are deficiencies that affect the degree of accuracy in the research results. Another observed deficiency is that the conducted studies had rarely preferred face-to-face meetings and interviews, which can produce more effective results, because they are more difficult and time-consuming. Instead, the studies had mostly been carried out remotely or using online survey methods. Finally, when making an evaluation and suggestion based on the earthquake regions selected as the sample group in this study, studies focusing on these cities are expected to contribute to the economic and financial policy of disaster management. In other words, conducting research that can shape government policies in cities and regions that experience natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods and encouraging interdisciplinary studies that include field research and project design will be appropriate roads to take.