Status quo and future research avenues of tax psychology

Tax honesty means to give up short-term self-interest for the good of the community. States need sufficient tax funds to finance public goods such as health care or education. Tax psychology has the aim to understand citizens’ tax behaviour and to analyse the psychological processes, which determine tax honesty. The present book chapter gives an overview of the history of taxation, the different qualities of tax behaviour, the socio-demographic, economic, psychological, third party and cultural determinants of tax compliance as well as the theoretical models of tax behaviour. Throughout the chapter, research gaps and future research avenues are descripted. In addition, the most important general guide rails for future tax research are discussed in the conclusion including the analyses of interactions between tax compliance determinants, the application of new methods such as field-experiments applying machine learning, the boundary conditions and consequences of digitalization and research on tax behaviour in developing and emerging markets.