Changing Attitudes Toward the Ethics of Tax Evasion: An Empirical Study of 10 Transition Economies

Abstract

This paper analyzes the data on tax evasion that was collected over two different periods for ten transition economies. Comparisons are made between the earlier and later data to determine whether attitudes toward tax evasion have changed over time. The study found that some countries became significantly more tolerant of tax evasion over time while other countries became less tolerant of tax evasion. There was no significant difference between earlier and later attitudes toward tax evasion for two countries.

Keywords: ethics, tax evasion, transition economy, Bulgaria, Belarus, China, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Slovenia, East Germany

JEL Classification: H26, E62, D6, K34, K42, M14, M4, O53, O52, P35