Tax me if you can: An artifactual field experiment on dishonesty

TY - JOUR

T1 - Tax me if you can

T2 - An artifactual field experiment on dishonesty

AU - Jacobsen, Catrine

AU - Piovesan, Marco

PY - 2016/4/1

Y1 - 2016/4/1

N2 - In this paper, we test whether increased salience of a tax charge increases dishonesty using a version of the die-under-cup paradigm. Participants earn money in proportion to the outcome reported and, thus, have an incentive to over-report. We find a significant increase in high outcomes in the presence of a tax frame suggesting that participants use the tax as an excuse to rationalize their dishonest act. In addition, we tested whether adding an explanation for the adoption of the tax would increase honesty. We find evidence for reversed dishonesty with participants reporting significantly more low outcomes. These results warn policy makers about the non-trivial relationship between taxation charges and dishonesty.

AB - In this paper, we test whether increased salience of a tax charge increases dishonesty using a version of the die-under-cup paradigm. Participants earn money in proportion to the outcome reported and, thus, have an incentive to over-report. We find a significant increase in high outcomes in the presence of a tax frame suggesting that participants use the tax as an excuse to rationalize their dishonest act. In addition, we tested whether adding an explanation for the adoption of the tax would increase honesty. We find evidence for reversed dishonesty with participants reporting significantly more low outcomes. These results warn policy makers about the non-trivial relationship between taxation charges and dishonesty.

U2 - 10.1016/j.jebo.2015.09.009

DO - 10.1016/j.jebo.2015.09.009

M3 - Journal article

SN - 0167-2681

VL - 124

SP - 7

EP - 14

JO - Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization

JF - Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization

ER -