Reciprocity and Willingness to Pay Taxes: Evidence from a Survey Experiment in Latin America

Abstract

Are citizens more willing to pay taxes when government's performance improves We review the tax morale literature disentangling its different components, and provide empirical evidence exploiting a novel survey conducted in 17 Latin American cities and an experimental attempt atmeasuring reciprocity in tax collection in developing countries. The evidence suggests that governments interested in increasing tax revenues should not only focus on escalating the coercive power of the state (i.e., more audits and fines); providing better public services to society can be an effective (albeit limited) tool to raise revenues.