Comparison of tax morality determinants between countries

Taxes have been an important political tool in all areas of history since the existence of people and states. Because taxes are a critical financial resource for countries. In the current century, states have had to adapt to changing social structures and processes by acquiring duties and responsibilities. This obligation has brought along the policy making of new programs for tax revenues that will finance the duties and responsibilities of states. Among the most important goals of these policies is to increase tax compliance and tax morale. From the date of tax collection; individuals avoided paying taxes for various reasons, while countries aimed to increase tax compliance in order to fully fulfill their financial responsibilities. At the beginning of the methods used to increase tax compliance, deterrence policies are generally included. However, the idea that strict penalties and controls will force taxpayers to comply is wrong. Because today, it has been seen that many countries have high tax morale despite non-strict deterrence methods. It is assumed that no one wants to pay taxes, even though it is known by society that paying taxes is the foundation of the state. Because taxpayers generally keep their individual benefits above the social benefit and neglect that the individual benefit is the component of the social benefit. However, citizens who earn income have financial and social responsibilities towards society and the state. Managing these responsibilities is the primary duty of states. A tax system to be created in the social capital component will be successful in increasing tax compliance and morality finally increasing tax revenues by preventing tax losses and evasion. In the literature; Tax morale, which is defined as an intrinsic motivation, is a behavioral symptom that determines the taxpayer and government relations within the system. In addition, tax morale is a subjective concept and differs from society to society, culture to culture. This concept, which has a relative perspective, is affected by many factors in its denominator. Cultural norms, sociological and economic factors, demographic structures are the main topics that determine tax morale. In this context, the evaluation of tax morale by taking into account the economy and tax psychology, the concrete interpretation of the factors that are affected by statistical data will provide a broad and comparable evaluation on the basis of countries, unlike the studies in the literature. Keywords Tax Compliance, Taxpayer Behavior, Tax Revenues, Social Capital Stock, Informal Economy, Tax Evasion.