An Experimental Examination of the Multi-Dimensional Nature of Taxpayers' Equity Judgments

• In Event: Behavioral Tax

Abstract

A multi-dimensional view of fairness is adopted to examine taxpayers’ equity judgments. Distributive, procedural, interactional and informational justices are treated as distinct constructs in a tax setting. The experiment manipulates each dimension as fair or unfair to determine the influence on tax compliance intentions. There is a main effect for distributive justice, supporting prior studies that demonstrate the importance of tax burden outcome fairness on compliance behavior. Additionally, interactions among the fairness dimensions establish that taxpayers do not always base compliance intentions solely on distributive justice concerns. Perceptions of fairness across the other equity dimensions reduce the focus on outcome fairness. Further, this study reveals the importance of informational justice. When subjects are provided with clear and straightforward guidance regarding a tax issue, injustices across procedural and interactional dimensions of fairness do not have a significant influence on hypothetical compliance intentions.

Authors

• Darcie Costello, Washington State University

• Debra Lee Sanders, Washington State University