Tax Compliance and the Neuroeconomics of Intertemporal Substitution

Abstract:     
This article argues that the relationship between the timing of tax payments and the decision of how much tax will be paid may have a greater impact on the level of tax compliance than would be predicted under standard exponential discounting models. To the extent that taxpayers exhibit hyperbolic or quasi-hyperbolic time discounting, compliance may be improved by separating the time at which tax returns are filed from the time in which it is paid or in which previously paid tax is refunded.

Keywords: tax compliance, neuroeconomics, intertemporal substitution

JEL Classifications: D87, D91, H24, H26

Accepted Paper Series