Procedural Fairness, a Sense of Alienation and Paying Taxes

Abstract

This paper presents the results of two studies analysing the impact of procedural fairness and a sense of alienation on real tax payments in the public goods game. Study 1 showed that an unfair procedure of determining the rules of the game increases the frequency of tax evasion. In Study 2, tax evasion was associated with a sense of alienation induced in the subjects, understood as a conviction about the ineffectiveness of one’s own actions. The results of the studies presented in this paper indicate the importance of the treatment of taxpayers by the tax system as a factor infl uencing the propensity for tax fraud.