Determinants of Tax Compliance — A Cross-Country Analysis

Country-level factors affect tax compliance, so studies based on cross-country data are crucial for understanding the behavior of tax compliance. This study adopts the first-differenced approach to estimating the determinants of tax compliance based on the index of tax compliance for 58 countries over the period 1996–2000. The estimations also allow for the endogeneity of tax rates by incorporating the effects of tax compliance on tax rates. Our estimates demonstrate that the tax burden significantly affects the degree of tax compliance. Moreover, the results show that noneconomic factors are important determinants of tax compliance.