Cheating Responses to Tax Evasion

Abstract

We explore cheating behaviours in a die roll task in response to information about tax malpractice in Italy using a survey experiment on a representative sample of the Italian population. We thus generalise laboratory findings on conditional behaviours (cooperation, cheating) to uncover their real-world bearing in the context of tax compliance. Cheating is strongly conditioned on information about tax malpractice, as is the perceived tax compliance norm. We uncover asymmetries along the income gradient: Conditional cheating responses are driven by information about tax malpractice on behalf of top income earners, while perceived tax compliance norms are driven by information about tax malpractice among low income earners.

Keywords: Tax evasion, tax avoidance, conditional cooperation, cheating, survey experiment

JEL Classification: D01, D31, D63, H23, H26