Tax perception and tax awareness of higher education students: Case of Akdeniz University

Tax is a social phenomenon that makes its presence felt at every stage of social life. Taxation is based on the unilateral sovereignty of the state, but in practice, the voluntary compliance of individuals with taxation is extremely important for the collection of these revenues. Voluntary compliance of individuals with taxes is essential in collecting taxes. Voluntary compliance of individuals with tax is related to how they perceive tax and their tax awareness. For this reason, individuals should have a certain level of tax awareness by perceiving tax positively. In this context, the effect of taxation policies on individuals, how individuals perceive tax and their level of tax awareness should be investigated and an effective and efficient tax system should be established in the light of these researches. The aim of this study, which was carried out on the scale of Akdeniz University, is to measure the tax perception and tax awareness of students. The study consists of three parts. In the first part, it explains the theoretical and conceptual framework of tax. In the second part, the method and methodology of the research are presented. In the last part, the findings obtained from the survey conducted to determine the tax-related behaviors of university students who are potential taxpayers are interpreted. In the survey study in which 619 students participated in Akdeniz University by simple random sampling method, in the light of the theoretical information discussed in the first part, it was aimed to determine how the students perceive tax, their tax awareness levels, how they evaluate the Turkish Tax System and how the applied tax policies affect the attitudes and behaviors of the students towards tax. has been studied. The data obtained from the research were analyzed using the SPSS 27 package program. The findings obtained from the study can be expressed in several points. The vast majority of students perceive tax as a civic duty and can establish a financial link between taxes and public services. It has been determined that most of the students do not fully know which tax they pay and how much of their monthly income they pay as tax. A significant portion of the students think that public services will be disrupted if taxes are not paid. The learners think that they pay high tax rates, which reveals that they feel the tax burden too much.