A study on the effect of public nudge practices on tax compliance: Burdur province example

In order to provide public services without interruption, it is necessary to effectively collect taxes, which are the primary source of income for the states. In addition to legal and coercive measures in collecting taxes, voluntary compliance with taxes is an essential component. The field of behavioral economics challenges the concept of rationality in traditional economics and the assumptions of economic actors, offering a new perspective. This approach advocates the integration of psychological and behavioral understandings into economic theory, allowing economic issues to be examined more comprehensively. In this context, the study aims to measure whether the public nudging practices carried out by the Revenue Administration are effective in tax compliance of real estate capital income owners, specifically in the Burdur city center. In addition, the attitudes and thoughts of the taxpayers regarding this income element were also measured. The data used in the study were collected from 440 taxpayers in the Burdur city center using a face-to-face survey technique. Regression analysis was performed on the obtained data in the ordered probit model. According to the analysis results, no significant relationship was found between the demographic factors of taxpayers, such as gender, marital status, age, number of children, education level, income level, professional type of rental income, and tax compliance. It was found that taxpayers with medium rental income were less compliant with taxes than other taxpayers, and taxpayers with commercial income other than rental income were less compliant with taxes than other taxpayers. Taxpayers who remembered having to file a return were more compliant with taxes than other taxpayers. Significant differences in non-economic factors affecting taxpayers' tax compliance, such as tax penalties, tax amnesties, tax perception, fair tax system, taxpayer reputation loss, social environment, and public nudging practices. Tax payers who filed their returns on time to avoid being subject to tax penalties, tax payers with a favorable tax perception, those who filed their returns so that their reputation would not be damaged, and those who filed their returns under the influence of their social environment had higher tax compliance levels. Tax payers who filed their returns due to public prodding by the tax administration were estimated to have higher tax compliance than other taxpayers.