The effect of accounting and finance education in secondary education on tax awareness: Gebze sample

A great deal of the services provided by the state are funded through taxes. Citizens having tax awareness will make it easier for the state to collect taxes and prevent the emergence of problems related to financing public services. Although it is important for every citizen to have tax awareness, it is also important that professional accountants who play an active role in the taxation process have tax awareness as well. Each of the students who receive accounting and finance education in secondary education institutions is a professional accountant candidate and it is expected that the education provided for these students will contribute to tax awareness. The aim of this study is to analyze the differences in tax awareness of the students who are trained in accounting and finance and the students who do not receive accounting and finance education in secondary education institutions and to determine the contribution of accounting and finance education to tax awareness. Also, it reveals the effectiveness of tax week studies in schools in order to increase tax awareness. In the research, face-to-face survey method was used to obtain the data and a poll was conducted to 721 high school students in Gebze district of Kocaeli Province. Discriminant analysis were carried out for the data obtained. While conducting discriminant analysis, the differences between different school types, different grade levels, different grade levels in the same school type and gender of students were examined. It is concluded that there was no significant difference between the students who received accounting and finance education and the ones who did not receive accounting and finance education in terms of tax awareness, tax perception and tax morality and that accounting and finance education does not have a contribution on tax awareness. Also, it was determined that the studies on tax week in secondary education institutions were not sufficient. Considering the results of the study, In the field of accounting and finance, the subject of tax awareness should also be included in the course contents and education must be provided as well as tax-related teaching. Furthermore, tax week activities should be carried out in an effective way and by considering student participation in all secondary education institutions.