Understanding Taxpayer Attitudes Through Understanding Taxpayer Identities

Understanding why taxpayers do or do not comply with tax regulation has been the focus of much research over the past three decades. Quite naturally, it is assumed that if we were able to acquire a good understanding of why taxpayers do or do not comply, we would be in a much better position to obtain greater levels of compliance with tax reporting, and bridge the tax-gap (Internal Revenue Service, 1997) more effectively. However, despite the wealth of research conducted on this question, a satisfactory explanation remains elusive. The task is not helped by the fact that defining what constitutes compliance is in itself difficult, with the subtleties surrounding evasion, avoidance, mere error, and intention often making them indistinguishable (see Long and Swingen, 1991; Roth, Scholz and Witte, 1989). Even so, our ability to pinpoint underlying motivations for compliant or non-compliant behaviour, however defined, remains weak.