Deneysel Çalışmalar Özelinde Vergi Uyumu Literatürüne Kısa Bir Bakış
Erhan Çelik, İsa SağbaşMükelleflerin vergisel yükümlülüklerini, vergi kanun ve düzenlemelerine uygun olarak tam ve zamanında yerine getirmeleri vergi uyumu olarak adlandırılmaktadır. Vergi uyumu konusunda gerçekleştirilen çalışmalarda daha çok nicel yöntemler arasında yer alan anket ve deney yöntemlerinden yararlanıldığı görülmektedir. Araştırmacılar açısından anket yöntemi oldukça yaygın ve bilinen bir yöntemdir. Deney yöntemi ise nispeten daha az bilinen bir yöntemdir. Özellikle ülkemizde gerçekleştirilen vergi uyumu araştırmalarında daha çok anket yönteminden yararlanıldığı dikkat çekmektedir. Uluslararası literatürde ise hem anket hem de deney yönteminden yararlanan birçok çalışmaya rastlamak mümkündür. Deneylerde bireylerin davranışları doğrudan gözlemlenebildiğinden son yıllarda deneysel çalışmaların sayısı artmıştır. Vergi uyumu konusunda, ülkemizde ve yurtdışında kapsamlı bir literatür bulunmasına rağmen laboratuvar deneyi anlamında ülkemizde nadir çalışmaların olduğu söylenebilir. Vergi uyumu konusunda ülkemizde gerçekleştirilen deneysel çalışmaların hem niceliğinin hem de niteliğinin arttırılabilmesi amacıyla bu çalışmada, deneysel çalışmalar hakkında bilgi vermek ve Türkçe literatüre bir katkı sunabilmek amaçlanmıştır. Deneylerde toplumun tüm kesiminden bireyler yer alabildiği gibi öğrencilere de yer verildiği görülmektedir. Bu çalışmada ise sadece öğrencilerin denek olarak yer aldığı deneysel çalışmaların literatür taraması yapılmıştır. Bulgular; vergi oranlarının artışının vergi uyumunu azalttığını, denetim oranlarının artışının vergi uyumunu artırdığını ve mükellefin vergi idaresine güven düzeyinin artışının vergi uyumunu artırdığını ortaya koymaktadır.
A Brief Overview of the Tax Compliance Literature Specific to Experimental Studies
Erhan Çelik, İsa SağbaşTax compliance is the complete and timely fulfillment of taxpayers’ tax obligations as per tax laws and regulations. Notably, the survey method has mainly been used in the tax compliance studies conducted in Turkey. In the international literature, many studies can be encountered that used both survey and experimental methods. Despite the comprehensive literature on tax compliance in Turkey and the international literature, studies on tax compliance in Turkey involving laboratory experiments can be said to be rare. This study aims to provide information about experimental studies and contribute to the Turkish literature in order to increase both the quantity and quality of experimental studies carried out in Turkey on tax compliance. This study only performs a literature review of experimental studies in which students have taken part as subjects. The study results reveal increases in tax rates to reduce tax compliance, increases in audit rates to increase tax compliance, and increases in the level at which taxpayers trust the tax administration to increases tax compliance.
For states to fulfill their duties, taxpayers must accurately declare their taxable income and pay their taxes in full and on time. However, maintaining this process as envisaged is not always possible. What hinders the process is taxpayers’ tax avoidance and tax evasion behaviors, and occasionally the failure of governments to design tax systems successfully. Since the existence of states and taxes, much research has been done and continues to be done to detect and eliminate these problems. In this context, the first study to theoretically investigate individuals’ decisions to evade taxes using the economic model belongs to Allingham and Sandmo (1972), and the first study to investigate tax compliance with an applied method (i.e., the experimental method) belongs to Friedland, Maital and Rutenberg (1978), both of which are considered pioneering studies in their field.
The survey and experimental methods are both quantitative methods and are seen to be primarily used in studies on tax compliance. The questionnaire method is a common well-known method for researchers, while the experimental method is a relatively lesser-known method regarding tax compliance. The survey method is noteworthily the one used the most in tax compliance studies conducted in Turkey. Comprehensive studies are found in the international literature to consist of both the survey and experimental methods, with the experimental studies from Secilmis (2010) and Arıman (2020) being rare studies on taxation in Turkey. This study aims to provide information about experimental studies and to contribute to the Turkish literature in order to increase both the quantity and quality of the experimental studies carried out in Turkey on tax compliance.
Students are primarily involved in experiments, and whether or not students are representative of taxpayers is a crucial issue of debate (Harrison & List, 2004, p. 1016). A laboratory experiment was conducted to compare the behaviors of student and non-student subjects regarding tax compliance. The findings show the students’ behavioral responses to be essentially the same as those of the non-students in the same experiments (Alm, Bloomquist, & McKee, 2015, p. 1183).
This study has conducted a literature review and provided a summary of the studies that have been carried out on taxes in Turkey using the survey method. The study then presents a detailed literature review of the experimental studies that have been carried out with students. The findings from the experimental studies mostly state increases in tax rates to reduce tax compliance, increases in audit rates to increase tax compliance, increases in the level at which taxpayers trust the tax administration to increase tax compliance, men to have lower tax compliance levels than women, and individual tax compliance levels to be similar for those in the same social group.
Another remarkable finding is that behavioral theories and factors such as prospect theory have also been included in tax compliance experiments.
The national and international literature is full of studies on tax compliance that have used the survey method. However, the studies carried out using experimental methods on this subject are notably pretty weak in the literature of Turkey compared to the international literature. This study was carried out as a literature review and is expected to contribute to Turkey’s existing literature. Meanwhile, some problems can be encountered, such as the cost of establishing a laboratory in order to conduct laboratory experiments, the difficulties un using the experimental design and in identifying and reaching subjects suitable for a study, and the lack of a sufficient number of guiding studies in Turkey regarding behavioral finance. Despite all these shortcomings, applying experimental methods in tax studies that are planned to be carried out in Turkey can evidently make significant contributions to the literature.