EXPLORING THE IMPACT OF RELIGION ETHICS, AGE FACTORS, INCOME LEVEL, PROFESSIONAL, EDUCATIONAL, AND GENDER PERCEPTIONS ON TAX EVASION BEHAVIORS: A COMPREHENSIVE APPROACH (Published)
A current survey is lacking on the impacts of religion ethics, age factor, income level, profession, educational, and gender perceptions on the growth of related issues of tax evasion and the impact on the official economy. This quantitative, non-experimental research was to examine the perceptions of people regarding the activities of tax evasion and consequently, its insinuations on official economies. Tax evasions have been of increasing concern among government officials, policy makers, and social scientists. In the past, discussions were on; size and growth of tax evasion activities, currently, attention is being strained on people’s perceptions towards tax evasion and related issues for several reasons. Unemployment is rising, with the attendant problems of financing public expenditure, there is also a global anxiety about the present economic crisis and social policies. Policy makers and politicians have become increasingly aware of the need to solve problems associated with tax evasion both at the state and the national level. Insinuations from the study are made to encourage economic policy-making and to identify areas in which additional research is particularly warranted.
Keywords: Official Economy, Religion Ethics, Sam Agbi, Shadow Economy, Tax Evasion, and Tax Evasion Behaviors
THE DETERMINANTS OF TAX EVASION IN PAKISTAN-A CASE STUDY OF SOUTHERN PUNJAB (Published)
Every citizen is legally bound to pay tax to the government to enable to meet its expenditures to discharge its obligations regarding defense, education, public health, law and justice, infrastructure etc. In most of the countries, tax revenue is a major source of government income. Taxes also play a very important role in the economic development of a country. Tax evasion is concerned with all unlawful activities which are adopted by the taxpayers in order to escape from the payment of tax. The objective of this study is to probe the determinants (causes) of tax evasion in Pakistan from both tax payers and tax collectors point of view. In order to record the views of both tax payers and tax collectors the author has collected data from 150 respondents through two separate structured questionnaires. The data collected through this method has been analyzed through different statistical techniques such as arithmetic mean, percentages, standard deviation, t-tests, ANOVA etc. The results highlight six main cause of tax collection: unproductive expenditures / misuse of funds, anti-tax culture, corrupt tax administration, multiple & higher tax rates, complex tax system and amnesties and incentives for tax evaders. The author has also made certain recommendations to combat tax evasion problem and submitted suggestions to improve tax collection in order to ensure financial independence of Pakistan.
Keywords: Determinants, Pakistan, Tax Collector’s point of view, Tax Evasion, Taxpayer