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  • April 2018
  • Article
  • Journal of Consumer Psychology

The Power of Voice in Stimulating Morality: Eliciting Taxpayer Preferences Increases Tax Compliance

By: Cait Lamberton, Jan-Emmanuel De Neve and Michael I. Norton
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Abstract

Decisions about paying taxes represent one of the most common moral quandaries faced by citizens. In the present research, we argue that taxpayer compliance can be raised by increasing “voice”: allowing taxpayers to express non-binding preferences about the way their taxes are used. We first test for effects of preference expression on tax compliance with a tax in a laboratory setting. Here, we find that allowing participants to express non-binding preferences over tax spending priorities leads to a 16% increase in compliance. A followup online study tests this treatment with a simulation of paying US federal taxes. Allowing taxpayers to express their preferences on the distribution of government spending reduces the stated take-up rate of a questionable tax loophole by 15%. A third experiment shows that this effect only occurs when taxpayers have voice in spending on preferred tax categories, allocating tax dollars across disliked spending categories increased neither feelings of voice nor likelihood of payment.

Keywords

Morality; Public Policy; Ethics; Moral Sensibility; Taxation; Policy; Attitudes; Governance Compliance

Citation

Lamberton, Cait, Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, and Michael I. Norton. "The Power of Voice in Stimulating Morality: Eliciting Taxpayer Preferences Increases Tax Compliance." Special Issue on Marketplace Morality. Journal of Consumer Psychology 28, no. 2 (April 2018): 310–328.
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About The Author

Michael I. Norton

Negotiation, Organizations & Markets
→More Publications

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More from the Authors
  • Laughter on Call: Injecting Conversational Levity By: Alison Wood Brooks, Michael I. Norton and F Katelynn Boland
  • Reaching for Rigor and Relevance: Better Marketing Research for a Better World By: Shilpa Madan, Gita Venkataramani Johar, Jonah Berger, Pierre Chandon, Rajesh Chandy, Rebecca Hamilton, Leslie John, Aparna Labroo, Peggy J. Liu, John G. Lynch, Nina Mazar, Nicole Mead, Vikas Mittal, Christine Moorman, Michael I. Norton, John Roberts, Dilip Soman, Madhu Viswanathan and Katherine White
  • Calculators for Women: When Identity-Based Appeals Backfire By: Tami Kim, Kate Barasz, Michael I. Norton and Leslie K. John
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