Understanding citizens’ reluctance to pay taxes

‘Where Do My Tax Dollars Go? THE GIST In this research project, a team of four researchers studied well over 2,000 households in Dallas County, USA, to gauge how their willingness to pay property taxes changes with new information on how their tax money is spent by the government. Tax morale effects of perceived government spending,” a team of four researchers including Matias Giaccobasso and Ricardo Perez-Truglia study well over 2,000 households in Dallas County, the second largest county in the U.S. state of Texas, to gauge how their willingness to pay property taxes changes with new information on how their tax money is spent by the government. On the other hand, households without children enrolled in public schools were more likely to appeal against property taxes once they found out that a larger share of property taxes was allocated towards public education. Lack of access The authors also note that one way to encourage people to pay taxes would be to make information about how tax revenues are being spent by the government more accessible to citizens.