BEYOND ENFORCEMENT: WHAT DRIVES TAX MORALE IN GHANA?

Abstract

Purpose – This paper aims to investigate the determinants of the motivation to pay tax in Ghana. Traditionally, raising tax morale to ensure compliance is often tied to the level of prevailing enforcement.Butbeyondenforcement,whydocitizenspaytax? Design/methodology/approach – ThispaperreliedonthesixthwaveoftheWorldValuesSurvey data in determining the drivers of tax morale. It used the probit model with different specifications to determinerobustnessoftheresults. Findings – The findings remain robust to model specification and show a non-linear relationship between age and tax morale. The level of education, marital status, patriotism, sector of employment, satisfactionwithdemocracyandone’s“fearofGod”donotmatterintaxmorale.Theeconomicclassof apersonperseisalsofarfrombeingasignificantdriverandthatpeopleareintrinsicallymotivatedto pay tax once they are satisfied with their financial situation, have trust in the government as well as confidenceintheparliament. Originality/value – Inadditiontobeingapioneeringmicro-econometricworkonthedeterminantsof tax morale in Ghana, the main contribution of the study lies in its investigation of a non-linear relationshipbetweenageandtaxmoraleinGhana